Whirinaki

A report commissioned by the Waitangi Tribunal

for the U rewera District Inquiry

Tracy Tulloch

January 2002

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Contents List of Figures ................................................................................................................ 5 Abbreviations ................................................................................................................ 6 Author ............................................................................................................................ 7 Chapter I: Introduction ........................................................................................... 10

1.1 The Claims and the Commission ...................................................................... 10 The Claims ........................................................................................................... 10

1.2 Methodology and Structure .............................................................................. 11 1.3 Executive Summary .......................................................................................... 12 1.4 Principal Treaty issues ...................................................................................... 14

Chapter II: Whirinaki pre-1890s ............................................................................ 15 2.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 15 2.2 Ownership, occupation, usage prior to Native Land Court investigation ........ 16 2.3 Historical events affecting Whirinaki c.1840-1890s ........................................ 19 2.4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 24

Chapter III: Title investigation and rehearing, 1890 and 1893 ............................ 25 3.1 Summary ........................................................................................................... 25 3.2 Whirinaki survey (circa 1887) .......................................................................... 25 3.3 1890 Whirinaki Title investigation ................................................................... 25

3.3.1 Ngati Materai's case .................................................................................. 27 3.3.2 Tuhoe's case .............................................................................................. 27 3.3.3 Ngati Manawa's case ................................................................................. 28 3.3.4 Ngati Apa's case ........................................................................................ 28 3.3.5 Judgment. ................................................................................................... 29

3.4 1893 Whirinaki rehearing ................................................................................. 30 3.4.1 Judgment .................................................................................................... 31

3.5 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 32 3.5.1 The Court and Maori customary rights and relationships ......................... 32 3.5.2 The timing of the title investigation .......................................................... 34 3.5.3 The costs to Maori of participating in the Native Land Court process ..... 35

Chapter IV: Survey liens and alienations, 1893-1899 ........................................... 37 4.1 Summary ........................................................................................................... 37 4.2 Crown takeover of Whirinaki survey liens ....................................................... 37 4.3 1895 Crown acquisition of 21,499 acres .......................................................... 38 4.4 1899 Crown acquisition of 351 acres ............................................................... 43 4.5 Conclusion: Issues Arising ............................................................................... 46

4.5.1 The taking of land in lieu of survey costs .................................................. 46 4.5.2 The exposure of Maori non-sellers to new survey costs ........................... 47 4.5.3 The purchase of individual interests in communal land ............................ 48 4.5.4 The scope of alienations during the 1890s ................................................ 49 4.5.5 Crown advantages in the purchase process ............................................... 51 4.5.6 The adequacy of the Crown's protective mechanisms .............................. 52

4.6 Conclusion ................................................................. '" .................................... 53 Chapter V: Crown acquisition ofWhirinaki lands from 1900 ............................. 56

5.1 Summary of Crown acquisitions ...................................................................... 56 5.2 Whirinaki 1 section 4B1A and 4BIB: Crown purchasing 1914-1929 ............. 57

5.2.1 Whirinaki 1 section 4B1A: alienation 1914 ............................................. 57

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5.2.2 Issues arising: Whirinaki 1 section 4B1A ................................................. 59 5.2.3 The CroWn as monopoly purchaser ........................................................... 59 5.2.4 Whirinaki 1 section 4B1B: Crown purchase of individual shares 1920s .. 60

5.3 Proposed return of Whirinaki lands 1954 ......................................................... 63 5.4 Timber grants 1960s ......................................................................................... 64 5.5 Whirinaki 1 section 4B1B and Waiohau B9A exchange ................................. 65

5.5.1 Issues arising: Whirinaki 1 section 4B1B ................................................. 69 5.6 Whirinaki 1 sections 4B2A-4B2G .................................................................... 69

5.6.1 Crown pursuit of 4B2 shares 1952-1968 ................................................... 69 5.6.2 Proposals to exchange Crown land for Maori interests 1968-1969 ........... 74 5.6.3 The Motumako grievance and the early campaign to reclaim the land ..... 75 5.6.4 WhirinakiIMotumako negotiations 1969-1975 ......................................... 86 5.6.5 The Whirinaki and Motumako settlement 1979-1981.. ............................. 93 5.6.6 Whirinaki 1 section 4B2: issues arising .................................................... 96

5.7 Conclusion: Twentieth century Crown purchasing ........................................ 100 Chapter VI: Public works takings ........................................................................ 102

6.1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 102 6.2 Case study 1: Land taken for Rangitahi Native SchoollDistrict High School 103

6.2.1 Summary .................................................................................................. 103 6.2.2 Gifting of land to the Crown 1911 .......................................................... 103 6.2.3 Attempts to acquire additional land 1950s .............................................. 104 6.2.4 Settlement 1965 ....................................................................................... 108 6.2.5 Issues arising ........................................................................................... 109

6.3 Case study 2: Land taken for district nurse's cottage .................................... 109 6.3.1 Summary .................................................................................................. 109 6.3.2 Crown acquisition of Whirinaki 1 section 2F1.. ...................................... 109 6.3.3 Removal of nurse's cottage, compensation of donors ............................. 111 6.3.4 Issues arising ........................................................................................... 112

Chapter VII: Table ofWhirinaki subdivisions and alienations ......................... 113 7.1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 113 7.2 Commentary ................................................................................................... 119

7.2.1 Partitioning of Maori-owned blocks ........................................................ 119 7.2.2 Survey liens ............................................................................................. 119 7.2.3 Private alienations: purchases and gifts ................................................... 120 7.2.4 Ngati Manawa Development Scheme and Amalgamation 1960 ............. 121 7.2.5 Europeanisation ....................................................................................... 121 7.2.6 Current ownership and utilisation ............................................................ 122

Chapter VIII: Conclusion ...................................................................................... 124 8.1 Summary of events ......................................................................................... 124 8.2 Nineteenth century issues ............................................................................... 124

8.2.1 The cost to Maori of participating in the Maori Land Court process ...... 125 8.2.2 The Crown's acquisition of Maori land in lieu of survey liens ............... 125 8.2.3 The Crown's purchasing of undivided shares in communally owned Maori land .................................................................................................................... 126 8.2.4 The scope of land alienations .................................................................. 126 8.2.5 Crown advantages in the purchase process ............................................. 126 8.2.6 The adequacy of the Crown's protective mechanisms ............................ 127

8.3 Twentieth century issues ................................................................................ 127

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8.3.1 The Crown's purchasing of undivided shares in communally owned Maori land .................................................................................................................... 127 8.3.2 The length of time taken to resolve the Motumako and Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 grievances .................................................................................................. 128 8.3.3 Public works takings ................................................................................ 128

8.4 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 129

Appendices ................................................................................................................ 130 Appendix 1: Direction commissioning research ........................................... 131 Appendix 2: Whirinaki blocks acquired by the Crown, 1895-1968 .............. 132 Appendix 3: Whirinaki blocks and interests acquired by private parties, ..... 133 1921-1964 ...................................................................................................... 133 Appendix 4: Whirinaki blocks declared European land, 1964-1983 ............ 134 Appendix 5: Whirinaki blocks affected by Public Works activity, 1911-1967 ....................................................................................................................... 135 Appendix 6: Whirinaki blocks amalgamated under Ngati Manawa Development Scheme, 21 July 1960 ............................................................. 136 Appendix 7: Whirinaki Survey Liens, 1893-1966 ......................................... 137

Sources ...................................................................................................................... 139

Whirinaki Document Bank Index

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List of Figures

Page

Figure 1 Whirinaki (1890) 8

Figure 2 Whirinaki 1 and 2 (1896) 9

Figure 3 Ahikereru - Te Tapiri - Opepe track across Whirinaki 21

(1860s)

Figure 4 Whirinaki 1895 subdivisions 42

Figure 5 Whirinaki 1899 subdivisions 45

Figure 6 Whirinaki 1 section 4B blocks (1971) 55

Figure 7 Whirinaki 1 section 4BIB (1964) 66

Figure 8 Paeroa E section 4BIBl (1964) 67

Figure 9 Waiohau B section 9 (1964) 68

Figure 10 Motumako (1930) 81

Figure 11 Ngahuinga (1991) 97

AJHR

a.r.p

BOF

CCF

CF

CT

LINZ

MA

MA-MLP

MB

MLC

ML

NA

PR

ROD

Wai

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Abbreviations

Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives

acres, roods and perches

Block Order File

Court Correspondence File

Closed File

Certificate of Title

Land Information New Zealand

Maori Affairs

Maori Affairs: Maori Land Purchase Department

Minute Book

Maori Land Court

Maori Land Court plan number

National Archives

Provisional Register

Record of Documents

Waitangi Tribunal claim number

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Author

My name is Tracy Tulloch. In 1997 I completed a doctorate in New Zealand history at the University of Canterbury. Since 1998 I have been employed as a contract researcher in the Department of Social Policy and Social Work at Massey University, Albany. I have produced reports for Wai 704, 'The Alienation of Poihaere Hura's Interests in Seven Hauraki Land Blocks,;l Wai 754, 'Purangataua Whanau Trust Claim: The Alienation of Interests in Eleven Hauraki Land Blocks,;2 and RW04, 'Heruiwi Blocks I-IV,.3 I completed a scoping report for the Whirinaki block in November 2000.

1 Tracy Tulloch, 'The Alienation of Poihaere Hura's Interests in Seven Hauraki Land Blocks', report commissioned by the Waitangi Tribunal, July 1999 (Wai 686, II) 2 Tracy Tulloch, 'Purangataua Whanau Trust Claim: The Alienation of Interests in Eleven Hauraki Land Blocks', report commissioned by the Waitangi Tribunal, March 2000 (Wai 686 M2; Wai 754 B1) 3 Tracy Tulloch, 'Heruiwi Blocks 1-4', report commissioned by the Waitangi Tribunal, September 2000 (RW04: #3.16)

HERUIWI

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Figure 1: Whirinaki (1890)

Motumako

KAINGAROA 1

KUHAWAEA

Oputara ~ ~ . ....,.. ~ %..

-B-.i. ~

~honui ~'P

Tututarata

TE WHAITI

Shaded area: bush line Sources: ML 5422, LINZ, Hamilton; Whakatane Native Land Court minute books 2 and 3

(Whirinaki title investigation: claimant and counter-claimant evidence); Figure 16 in Miles, p.303.

Heruiwi

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Figure 2: Whirinaki 1 and 2 (1896)

Whirinaki 1 18,900 acres

Kaingaroa 1

Te Whaiti

Whirinaki 2 12,600 acres

Source: Based on ML 5422, LINZ, Hamilton

Kuhawaea

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Chapter I

Introduction

1.1 The Claims and the Commission

The Claims

There are currently six claims before the Tribunal that impinge on the Whirinaki block. These include Wai 36; 66; 212; 257, 791, and 840.

1. Wai 36 Claimants: J.W. Milroy and members of the Tuhoe tribe. The claim refers to, among other things, the denial of Tuhoe ownership and mana of the Whirinaki River. The Whirinaki River forms the northern border of the Whirinaki block (from the junction of the Rangitaiki and Whirinaki rivers running south-east to the junction of the Whirinaki River and Mangawiri Stream).

2. Wai 66 Claimants: E.C. Rewi for Ngati Manawa and Ngati Whare. The Wai 66 claim notes at paragraph 2.2 that the breaches of the principles of the Treaty took place, 'within the traditional rohe of Ngati Whare. The territory under claim is all that land within and adjoining the Whirinaki valley'. This area includes the eastern side of the Whirinaki block.

3. Wai 212 Claimants: H.J. Waiti, Kingi Porima on behalf of Te Runanganui 0 Te Ika Whenua. Whirinaki 1 and Whirinaki 2 are among a series of blocks claimed by members of Te Runanganui 0 Te Ika Whenua.

4. Wai 257 Claimants: Committee of Management of Proprietors Ngatimanawa Inc. and Trustees of Ngahuinga Motumako Lands Trust. This claim concerns lands adjacent to Whirinaki (Kaingaroa 1, other reserve lands and the 'Rangitaiki plains'). The author understands from Tribunal staff that a comprehensive Ngati Manawa iwi claim may be lodged in the future which may encompass the whole or part of the Whirinaki block.

5. Wai 791 Claimants: M Bennett, T. Te Heuheu, R. Briggs and the hapu of the Volcanic Interior Plateau. Whirinaki is included in the large area embraced by this claim: 'being that land of the Rangitaiki River which is part of the rohe of Ngati HakalPatuheuheu, Ngati Manawa and Ngati Whare,.4

6. Wai 840 Claimants: B.T. Galvin and members of the Ngati Tahu/Ngati Whaoa Runanga. This claim focuses on 'the Whirinaki block' (25,961 acres). However, it would appear that the block concerned is not the Whirinaki block,

4 Wai 791 Statement of Claim

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as it is commonly known and which is investigated in this report, but the nearby Kaingaroa 2 block, or part of that block. The Wai 840 claim refers to 'lands adjudicated on by the Native Land Court at Taupo 25 August 1877'. This court hearing concerned the issuing of memorials of ownership to the Kaingaroa 2 block (160,720 acres).5 The Wai 840 statement of claim notes that the land 'was part Kaingaroa' at 'the time of the first hearings in 1868'. The boundary description of the Whirinaki block outlined in the Wai 840 claim also indicates that the land the claimants are concerned with is the Kaingaroa 2 block: 'from Wairapakau to the north and Ngapuketura to the south, with a further 5500 acres subdivision known as Pukahunui No.1 from Ngapuketura to the north side,.6

The Commission

I was commissioned to complete a report for the Urewera district inquiry covering the following matters:

a) An overview of the customary Maori ownership, occupation and use of the Whirinaki block and a brief outline of historical events affecting the Whirinaki block and its owners, circa 1840-1890;

b) Details surrounding the survey of the parent Whirinaki block and its subsequent main partitions, including a discussion of survey liens on the Whirinaki blocks;

c) An examination of the title investigation and rehearing of Whirinaki by the Native Land Court;

d) An analysis of the nineteenth century Crown acquisition of individual shares in the Whirinaki block;

e) An analysis of the twentieth century Crown acquisition of Whirinaki lands and the mechanisms which facilitated this acquisition;

f) A summary of the alienation of the Whirinaki parent block from Maori ownership, and an alienation history of each of the major partitions from 1878 to the present, to be presented in tabular form [with a brief commentary];

g) A brief discussion of public works takings affecting the Whirinaki block, with a case study on land taken for schools and for district nurses' cottages;

h) A summary of the current ownership of this block and a commentary on how this land is currently utilised.7

1.2 Methodology and Structure

This report is based on research carried out in the following archives, libraries and offices:

National Archives: Auckland and Wellington branches Land Information New Zealand: Hamilton and Auckland offices

5 Taupo Native Land Court minute book, 25 August 1877, fols 296-299, 306. The Tatua West block was also considered at this hearing. 6 Wai 840 claim, 31 January 2000 7 See Appendix 1, Direction Commissioning Research, 26 January 2001

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• Waiariki Maori Land Court, Rotorua Massey University Library (Albany Campus), University of Auckland Library

Secondary sources utilised for this report are acknowledged in the references section. Unless another source is cited, the maps in this report are based on Maori land plan 5422. These maps should be treated as representative only of boundaries and block areas.

This report is divided into eight chapters as follows:

Chapter I: Chapter II: Chapter III: Chapter IV: Chapter V: Chapter VI: Chapter VII: Chapter VIII:

Introduction Whirinaki Pre-1890s Title investigation and rehearing, 1890 and 1893 Survey liens and alienations, 1893-1899 Crown acquisition of Whirinaki lands from 1900 Public works takings Table of Whirinaki subdivisions and alienations Conclusion

1.3 Executive Summary

'Whirinaki', as an appellation used in this report, refers to a Native Land Court defined block of around 31,500 acres lying between the Kaingaroa State Forest and the Urewera. The block extends southwards from the junction of the Rangitaiki and Whirinaki rivers. Murupara township is located in this northern corner of the block. The Rangitaiki and Wheao Rivers flow along the block's western boundary. The Whirinaki River forms the block's north-eastern boundary. The Mangamingi Stream lies between Whirinaki and the Heruiwi block to the south-west and the Te Okahu Stream lies along Whirinaki's south-eastern boundary. The northern corner of the block consists of flat land but the majority of Whirinaki contains more rugged hill country. See Figure 1, page 8.

Whirinaki first came before the Native Land Court in 1890. The Court awarded title to the block to Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa. It rejected claims on the land from Ngati Materai, a hapu of Ngati Apa, and Ngati Tamaikaimoana, a hapu of Tuhoe. The Ngati Apa grantees had claimed the entire block and were dissatisfied when the Court awarded part of the block to Ngati Manawa. A rehearing of the block's title took place in 1893. The Court largely upheld the previous Court's findings and again awarded the block to Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa. The block was partitioned shortly after the hearing. Ngati Apa was awarded title to Whirinaki 1 (18,900 acres), the western side of the block, and Ngati Manawa received title to Whirinaki 2 (12,600 acres), the eastern side of the block.

The Crown acquired 69 percent of the original 31,500 acre Whirinaki block (21,850 acres) during the 1890s. It acquired the bulk of Whirinaki 1 and 2 in 1895 in lieu of outstanding survey liens on the land and through the purchase of individual interests in the blocks. The Whirinaki 1 non-sellers retained two blocks: Whirinaki 1 section 2 (330 acres) and section 4 (7221 acres). The Whirinaki 2 non-sellers also retained two

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blocks: Whirinaki 2 section 1 (400 acres) and section 3 (2050 acres). The Crown acquired further Whirinaki lands in 1899 when it was awarded Whirinaki 1 section 4A (281 acres) and Whirinaki 2 section 3A (70 acres) in lieu of outstanding survey charges stemming from the 1895 partitions. Whirinaki 1 section 4A was returned to Maori ownership in 1981 as part of the Motumako settlement outlined below.

The Crown acquired permanent ownership of an additional 3,281 acres in the south­west of Whirinaki during the twentieth century. It purchased Whirinaki 1 section 4B1A (1533 acres) in 1914 and acquired Whirinaki 1 section 4B1B (1749) through the purchase of individual shares in the 1920s and an exchange of land in 1965.

The Crown purchased around half of the individual interests in the Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 blocks (3656 acres) during the late 1960s but returned these to Maori in 1981 as part of the Motumako settlement. The 4B2 blocks lay in the south-west of the block, adjacent to Kaingaroa 1. Members of Ngati Manawa, including owners in the 4B2 blocks, had claimed that the Crown had incorrectly assumed ownership over Motumako, a 500 acre area within Kaingaroa 1. In 1981 they agreed to drop their claim over Motumako in exchange for the return of interests purchased by the Crown in Whirinaki 1 section 4B2. The Crown returned these interests, and Whirinaki 1 section 4A, to the 4B2 non-sellers and the Motumako claimants as part of the Motumako settlement. The 4B2 and 4A blocks were amalgamated and are now known as Ngahuinga (3683 acres). This block remains in Maori ownership.

During the twentieth century, the northern Whirinaki lands remaining in Maori ownership were subdivided into numerous small blocks, including a number of quarter-acre sections. Most of these appear to have been retained in Maori ownership. Whirinaki 1 sections 2 and 4 were divided into approximately 49 blocks after 1900. Whirinaki 2 sections 1 and 3 were similarly divided into approximately 27 blocks. In 1960, 21 of the subdivided Whirinaki 1 and 2 blocks (approximately 1500 acres) were amalgamated under the Ngati Manawa Development Scheme. Fourteen other blocks, with a combined area of around seven acres, were declared European land between 1966 and 1983.

The following Crown-owned blocks are now part of the Kaingaroa Forest and Whirinaki Forest Park:s

Block Acres Forest License Whirinaki 1 section 1 10,111 Whirinaki Whirinaki 1 section 3 1,238 Whirinaki 1 section 4B1A 1,533 Whirinaki 1 section 4B1B 1,749 Whirinaki 2 section 2 9,802 Whirinaki 2 section 3A 70 Whirinaki 2 section 4 348 Wairapukau Total ' H' 24,851 , 79% ,of original

, , '," Whirinakiblock

8 Crown Law Office, Summary Details of the Crown AcqUisition oj Central North Island Forest Lands, undated, pp.108-137

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Murupara township is sited in the north of Whirinaki 1· section 1. Another part of this large block (Iying between the town and the Kaingaroa Forest to the south) consists of farm land.9

1.4 Principal Treaty issues

The principal Treaty issues identified in this study of the Whirinaki block include the following:

The cost to Maori of participating in the Maori Land Court process; The Crown's acquisition of Maori land in lieu of survey liens; The Crown's purchasing of undivided shares in communally-owned Maori land; The scope of land alienations; The adequacy of the Crown's protective mechanisms; Crown advantages in the purchase process; The length of time taken to resolve the Motumako grievance and concerns over the Crown's purchase of shares in Whirinaki 1 section 4B2.

9 Infomap 260-V17, Department of Survey and Land Information

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Chapter II

Whirinaki pre-1890s

2.1 Introduction

The Whirinaki block is located in an area characterized by interlocking and overlapping hapu and iwi interests. The nineteenth century saw shifting patterns of occupation in the RangitaikiIWhirinaki area as a result of tribal rivalries, periods of exile, reassertions of tribal rights, shifting tribal allegiances and the disruptions associated with the military campaigns of the 1860s. The early histories of the peoples in and around Whirinaki have been examined in a number of accounts. Nineteenth century Native Land Court records contain valuable, if sometimes conflicting and competing, accounts of Maori rights in Whirinaki. Elsdon Best's history of Tuhoe contains material regarding the various hapu who occupied or traversed the blocks. Henry Tahawai Bird's Kuranui-O-Ngati Manawa discusses Ngati Manawa's arrival in the Rangitaiki district and the iwi's subsequent history. More recently, Nicola Bright's Waitangi Tribunal-commissioned report on the neighbouring Kuhawaea blocks and Anita Miles' Te Urewera Rangahaua Whanui report have provided useful overviews of the histories of the people of the Rangitaiki district. 10 The people of Whirinaki also had interests in the neighbouring Kaingaroa 1 and Heruiwi blocks. This report should be considered alongside block histories of K · 1 dH ·.11 amgaroa an erulW1.

Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa appear to have been the principal occupiers and utilisers of the Whirinaki block following their conquest of the local Marangaranga people in ancient times. Ngati Materai (a hapu of Apa, also known as Ngati Rangitihi) and Ngati Whare (who occupied land east of Whirinaki, including the Te Whaiti block) also appear to have lived on parts of the block prior to its coming before the Native Land Court in 1890Y A number of other hapu and iwi were recorded as having undertaken raids on the land or having engaged in skirmishes in ancient and pre-European times. Of these, only Tuhoe claimed conquest-based rights over Whirinaki at the 1890 Native Land Court title investigation.

10 Elsdon Best, Tuhoe: The Children of the Mist, voLl, Fourth Edition, Reed Books, 1996, pp.123, 126-136, 151-167, 431, 458; Henry Tahawai Bird, Kuranui-o Ngati Manawa, Rotorua, Rotorua Printers, 1980; Nicola Bright, 'The Alienation History of the Kuhawaea No.l, No.2A, and No.2B blocks', report commissioned by the Waitangi Tribunal, November 1998 (Wai A26:Al), pp.8-22; Anita Miles, Te Urewera, Waitangi Tribunal Rangahaua Whanui Series (working paper: first release), Wellington, March 1999, pp.19-23, 221-227; Judith Binney, Redemption Songs: A Life of Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki, Auckland University PressiBridget Williams Books, 1995, pp.165-169, 267. 11 GM Paul & CM Paul, 'The History of Kaingaroa No.1, The Crown and the People of Ngati Manawa', Te Runanganui 0 Te Ika Whenua, 1994 (second edition) (Wai 212 B2); Tracy Tulloch, 'Heruiwi Blocks 1-4', report commissioned by the Waitangi Tribunal, September 2000 (RW04: #3.16) 12 These hapu and iwi were referred to at the 1890 and 1893 Whirinaki title investigation and rehearing.

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2.2 Ownership, occupation, usage prior to Native Land Court investigation

The following account of the ownership, occupation and usage of Whirinaki prior to the Native Land Court investigations of the 1890s is based primarily on evidence provided to the Court by Whirinaki claimants and counter-claimants in 1890 and 1893. Elsdon Best's history of Tuhoe has also contributed to this account.

In 1890 the Native Land Court heard extensive evidence regarding the early history of the Whirinaki block from representatives of Ngati Apa, Ngati Manawa, Ngati Materai and Tuhoe. The Ngati Materai representative stated that those he spoke for were now known as Ngati Rangitihi.13 All of the representatives based their claims to the block on the grounds of conquest, ancestry and occupation. For Ngati Apa, Ngati Manawa and Ngati Materai, the conquest concerned the ancient defeat of the Marangaranga people who had resided in the Rangitaiki valley prior to the arrival of the Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa ancestors Apa and Tangiharuru. This conquest has been described in Bird's history of Ngati Manawa, Kuranui-a Ngati Manawa and Best's Tuhae: Children afthe Mist. 14

The Tuhoe counter-claimants argued that they had a right to Whirinaki land based on their more recent conquest of Ngati Manawa. Tuhoe spokesman Tutakangahau, a senior chief of Tuhoe, told the Native Land Court in 1890 that Tuhoe and Ngati Pukeko had driven Ngati Manawa from the Te Whaiti and Whirinaki areas. Tuhoe had subsequently provided some Ngati Manawa men with wives and returned them to the Whirinaki block where they settled at Tututarata (on Whirinaki 2) .15 Elsdon Best's history of Tuhoe suggests that these events occurred between 1818 and 1826. Tutakangahau claimed that following their resettlement on the block, Ngati Manawa lived on Whirinaki under the mana of Tuhoe. However, Ngati Manawa offered the Court a different version of these events. Harehare Atarea denied the Tuhoe claim that Ngati Manawa had been driven from Whirinaki. He stated that his people had only left the land when Ngapuhi had advanced inland and that Ngati Manawa and Ngati Apa had both moved to Tarawera for a time. Ngati Apa supported Ngati Manawa's position in that they claimed that while Tuhoe had conquered the men of Ngati Manawa, they had not conquered the land. 16

Tuhoe clearly considered the Rangitaiki lands to be within the boundary of their autonomous zone (the Tuhoe Rohe Potae). In 1872, Tuhoe described the boundaries of their lands in a letter to the Native Minister. The area described included Whirinaki, with specific mention of Ngahuinga, which lay at the junction of the Rangitaiki and Wheao Rivers on the western boundary of the Whirinaki block:

13 'Materai, grandchild of Apa is my ancestor .... N'Rangitihi that I now claim for are living on this block on the banks of the Whirinaki river. That is our name now' : Wharetini Te Waea, Whakatane Native Land Court minute book 2, 14 October 1890, fol 364 14 Bird, pp.12-14; Elsdon Best, Tuhae: the Children a/the Mist (Reed: 4th edition, Auckland, 1996), fP.126-136. These accounts are summarised in Bright's Kuhawaea report, pp.8-11

5 Best, pp.429-430,459. Best describes Tututarata as lying 'near Para-kakariki, on the range between the Rangi-taiki River and the Manga-wiri stream.' (p.459). ML 5422 includes the place name 'Tututarai', which is located in this area, and which may be a reference to, or a misprint for, Tututarata. 16 Whakatane Native Land Court minute book 3,6 November 1890, fols 100-105

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My district commences at Pukenui, to Pupirake, to Ahirau, to Huorangi, Tokitoki, Motuotu, Toretore, Haumiaroa, Taurukotare, Taumatapatiti, Tipare, Kawakawa, Te Karaka, Ohine te Rarakau, Kiwinui, Te Tirina, Omata-roa, Te Mapara, thence following the Rangi Taiki River to Otipa, Whaka-ngutu-toroa, Tuku-tororniro, Te Hokowhitu, Te Whakamatau, Okahu, Oniwarima, Te Houhi, Te Taupaki, Te Rautahuri, Ngahuinga, Te Arawata, Pohotea, Makihoi, Te Ahianatane, Ngatapa, Te Haraungamoa, Kahotea, Tukurangi, Te Koarere, Te Ahu-o-te-Atua, Arewa, Ruakituri, Puketoromiro, Mokomirarangi, Maungatapere, Oterangi-pu, and on to Puke-nui-o-raho, where this ends.17

The ancestral boundary of Potiki 1, Tuhoe's ancient ancestor, did not reach to Whirinaki. However, during the nineteenth century Tuhoe greatly expanded its political and social sphere of influence.18 Tuhoe's expansion and intermarriage into the Te WhaitiIWhirinaki area may have, in Tuhoe's eyes at least, resulted in a newer and greater iwi boundary that encompassed Rangitaiki blocks such as Whirinaki and Heruiwi. However, despite some intermarriage with Tuhoe, this notion of an expanded Tuhoe iwi boundary does not appear to have been accepted by N gati Manawa, at least at the time of the 1890 Whirinaki title investigation.

Ngati Apa, Ngati Manawa, Ngati Materai and Tuhoe representatives at the 1890 Whirinaki title investigation referred to a number of other hapu and iwi who had resided in the Whirinaki area for a time, or who had engaged in fleeting skirmishes or raids on the land. Many of the groups referred to appear to be hapu of Ngati Manawa or Ngati Apa. Others, such as Ngati Pukeko and Nga Puhi, had raided in the Whirinaki area but had been driven from the land. As in the case of Tuhoe's claimed conquest of Ngati Manawa, hapu and iwi representatives' accounts of the many skirmishes and conflicts on the land varied and sometimes directly contradicted each other. The main conclusion to be drawn from these accounts is that Whirinaki was a contested area with shifting patterns of hapu dominance and occupation.

Despite the temporary exiles forced on various groups as a result of the many conflicts on the block, evidence provided to the Court by claimants and counter­claimants suggests a long history of occupation of the land by Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa. The two groups' spokesmen described traditional food sites in detail, described natural and man-made landmarks and spoke of many settlements, cultivations and historical incidents on the block. Some occupation was seasonal, but the parties also described more permanent settlements, houses and pas on Whirinaki. Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa representatives described some areas of shared settlement, particularly following the introduction of Christianity to the district. Harehare Atarea of N gati Manawa stated that Hikirewa, at the mouth of the Whirinaki River, and Ngahuinga, at the junction of the Rangitaiki and Wheao Rivers (on the west of the block), had long been sites of residence for Ngati Manawa and Ngati Apa.19 Harehare also declared that Ngati Manawa lived on the block at Orakei,

17 Te Whenuanui, Paerau, Haunui ... 'and all the tribe' to the Government, 9 June 1872, Kohimarama Ruatahuna, AJHR, 1872, F3A, p.29 18 Angela Ballara, Iwi: The Dynamics of Maori Tribal Organisation from c.1769 to c.1945, Victoria University Press, 1998pp.293-294 19 Whakatane Native Land Court minute book 3,20 October 1890, fols 12, 31

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Orongohukore, Kakarahonui and Putakotare. Hapimana Parakiri of Ngati Apa asserted that in the 1840s Ngati Manawa and Ngati Apa lived together at Otukopeka, and later at Tututarata, in the centre of the Whirinaki block.2o Harehare Atarea also stated that Ngati Manawa had occupied Tututarata pa. He declared that his father and grandfather had owned a large house there.21 However, as in the case of accounts of conflicts on the block, evidence provided to the Court regarding occupation and utilisation of the land was often contradictory with claimants and counter-claimants attempting to assert their own pre-eminent rights to the land. (See Figure 1 for the approximate locations of some of the settlements mentioned above.22

)

Evidence offered to the Court also suggests a long history of intermarriage between the contesting parties. Wharetini Te Waea of Ngati Materai/Ngati Rangitihi claimed descent from both Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa ancestors, declared that he considered Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa 'as one' in view of a common descent from Apa. Harehare Atarea of Ngati Manawa claimed in turn that all those of Ngati Apa who lived on Whirinaki were descended from the Ngati Manawa ancestor Tangiharuru. 23 In his history of Tuhoe, Elsdon Best wrote that Ngati Manawa and Ngati Apa became so closely associated through intermarriage they could be considered 'one and the same people'. He noted that the two groups 'seem to have settled at Whirinaki, Heru-iwi, etc., for at least seven generations' .24 Tutakangahau of Tuhoe claimed descent from both Apa and Tangiharuru and spoke of marriages between men and women of Ngati Manawa and Tuhoe.25

Ngati Whare, who resided in the Te Whaiti district directly east of Whirinaki, had also intermarried with Ngati Manawa. They feature rather fleetingly in the Native Land Court minutes of the Whirinaki block title investigation. However, Ngati Whare's association with the Whirinaki block is worthy of further comment given the shared border between the Whirinaki block and Ngati Whare's Te Whaiti lands to the east. As noted in section 1.1, the Wai 66 claim describes the traditional rohe of Ngati Whare as 'all that land within and adjoining the Whirinaki Valley'. This takes in at least the eastern side of the Whirinaki block. At the Whirinaki title investigation in 1890, Harehare Atarea of Ngati Manawa declared that the lands of the Ngati Whare ancestor Wharepakau lay outside the Whirinaki block to the east: from Kuhawaea (north-east) to Te Whaiti (south-east). He admitted that Ngati Whare had resided on the Whirinaki block in recent times and that an area named 'Te Tawahionga' (Te Tawa-O-Tionga) had been set aside by his great-uncles for them to cultivate. However, Harehare argued that Ngati Whare occupied the land by virtue of intermarriage with Ngati Manawa and that the 'setting apart was not an absolute gift but a portion for cultivation'. He added that he had asked some Ngati Whare to

20 Whakatane Native Land Court minute book 3,23 October 1890, fols 49, 70. The location of Tututarata, as described by Best, may be that of Tututarai shown on ML 5422 (see footnote 15). 21 Whakatane Native Land Court minute book 3,20 October 1890, fol19 22 Some, but not all, of the sites mentioned by claimants and counterclaimants at the 1890 Native Land Court title investigation are shown on ML 5422. The author of this report was unable to identify the locations of all sites mentioned in the Land Court minutes. 23 Whakatane Native Land Court minute book 2,14-16 October, fols 360, 362; Whakatane Native Land Court minute book 3,22 October 1890, fols 31, 34-36 24 Best, p.123 25 Whakatane Native Land Court minute book 2, 16 October, fols 373, 375; Whakatane Native Land Court minute book 3, 17 October 1890, fols 2-3

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cultivate food on Whirinaki during 'the Native Land Court investigations', but that they had ceased to reside on the block when the Government decided to hold Court hearings at Matata rather than at Galatea (possibly a reference to the Heruiwi title investigation of 1878).26 Te Tawa-O-Tionga is sited on the eastern side of the Whirinaki block, north-west of Ponaua.27

Ngati Whare do not appear to have been independently represented at the 1890 Whirinaki title investigation. Given their recent occupation of part of the land, and the close proximity of their other lands to Whirinaki, it is perhaps surprising that they did not speak on their own behalf at the hearing. The reason for their absence is not immediately apparent. In 1907, Harehare Atarea indicated to the Second Urewera Commission that he accepted Ngati Whare had rights in several blocks awarded to Ngati Manawa, including Whirinaki:

In the days of our old men, Harehare, Tamoti, Te Mokena, Puritia, Kuratau, Te Wikiriwhi; Te Parata and Ngati Manawa and Ngati Whare. I saw these old men. Their word then was that Te Whaiti belonged to Ngati Manawa and Ngati Whare. This word of theirs applied to Kaingaroa, Whirinaki, Heruiwi and Kuhawaea.28

It is possible that, with the agreement of Ngati Manawa, some Ngati Whare representatives were included in the title to the Whirinaki 2 block awarded to Ngati Manawa by the Native Land Court in 1890. This had occurred in 1882 with regard to the Kuhawaea 1 block, north of Whirinaki, where some Ngati Whare and Patuheuheu 'representatives' were included among the Ngati Manawa grantees of the block.29 However, this does not appear to have occurred in the case of Whirinaki 2. This author was unable to identify N gati Whare names in the list of Whirinaki 2 title-holders, with the possible exception of Ngahoro Te Amo.30

It may be that Ngati Whare were, in fact, deliberately excluded from the title. On occasion, Maori who opposed the sale of land were excluded from the titles of land taken before the Native Land Court by those more interested in selling land. Ngati Manawa were, at this time, more inclined to sell land than Ngati Whare. Ngati Whare tended to side with Tuhoe and Patuheuheu who were opposed to the Court and to the sale of their lands.31

2.3 Historical events affecting Whirinaki c.1840-1890s

Missionaries arrived in the Whirinaki area in the 1840s.32 In his evidence at the 1890 Whirinaki title investigation, Hapimana Parakiri of Ngati Apa stated that Ngati

26 Whakatane Native Land Court minute book 3,20 October 1890, fols15, 18-19, 28-29 27 AJHR C1, 1896; ML 6487; ML 6848 28 Proceedings of the [Second] Urewera Commission, MS-Copy-Micro-0495, Alexander Turnbull Library, pp.142-3 29 These 'representatives' included Hamiora Potakura, an old chief of Ngati Whare. Judith Binney, Urewera Overview Part II: 1878-1912, draft version, unreleased, July 2000, pp 19-20. 30 Schedule of Whirinaki 2 titleholders (1891), BOF 2452A, Waiariki Maori Land Court. This list was checked against Ngati Whare names mentioned by George Preece in his evidence to the Second Urewera Commission in 1907. Preece, who had lived amongst Ngati Whare in his youth, gave evidence in support of their claim to the Te Whaiti block: Proceedings of the [Second] Urewera Commission, MS-Copy-Micro-0495, Alexander Turnbull Library, p.81. While it is possible that Ngati Whare names not known to the author of this report may be included in the list of Whirinaki 2 titleholders, the list does not appear to contain the names of prominent Ngati Whare. 31 Binney, p.21 32 Paul &Paul, p.16

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Manawa, Ngati Apa and Ngati Hineuru, a hapu of Ngati Apa, had been living together at Otukopeka when Christianity was introduced to the area. Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa subsequently built a church together at Tututarata, a settlement in the middle of Whirinaki that was visited by Reverend Colenso in 1844.33 Hapimana also stated that Christianity brought Ngati Manawa and Ngati Apa together at Kakarahonui, a site to the north of Tututarata.34

The advent of the New Zealand wars had a significant impact on Maori living in the Whirinaki area.35 Whirinaki lay in an area traversed by Te Kooti and his followers and by the Crown's military forces during the 1860s. The most commented-upon single event on the Whirinaki block during the war years is the battle of Te Tapiri in 1865. Te Tapiri, in the south of the block, was a permanent pa site of Ngati Manawa.36 Best notes that Ngati Rangitihi also occupied this pa.37 Te Tapiri pa lay on the main route between Taupo and the Waikato (see Figure 3).38 In 1865 Patuheuheu, a hapu of Tuhoe, asked Ngati Manawa to assist Kereopa and his 'rebel' supporters. Kereopa wished to travel from Ruatahuna to the Waikato across Ngati Manawa lands. However, possibly in response to government warnings that anyone assisting Kereopa would have their land confiscated, Ngati Manawa refused to help. Under the leadership of Peraniko Tahawai, a party of around 200 Ngati Manawa went to Te Tapiri where they prepared for battle. Kereopa's Tuhoe and Ngati Awa supporters subsequently attacked the pa. The defenders withdrew from Te Tapiri after several days and the Tuhoe forces destroyed the pa. Ngati Manawa were forced to abandon their kainga and cultivations in the area and did not return to Whirinaki until peace was made in the early 1870s.39 David Armstrong has suggested that during the war years 'the majority of Ngati Manawa people appear to have resided at Rotorua as virtual refugees, where, divorced from their lands, and reliant upon the aroha of their friends and relatives, they are likely to have incurred heavy debts with local storekeepers. ,40

The battle of Te Tapiri reinforced the division of Maori in the area, in the eyes of the Crown, between 'loyalists' and 'rebels'.41 Ngati Manawa subsequently fought for the Crown under Captain Gilbert Mair as part of the Arawa Flying Column.42 The experiences of Ngati Apa on Whirinaki during the war years are less well documented. However, Ngati Apa were generally associated with the 'rebel' or

33 Bright, pp.23-24 34 Whakatane Native Land Court minute book 3, fols 49-50,70-71,82-84 35 The impact of the wars on Ngati Manawa, Ngati Whare and Patuheuheu in the WhirinakilRangitaiki area has been examined in David Armstrong's 'Ika Whenua and the Crown: 1865-1890', 1999 (Wai 212 E9) 36 Paul & Paul, p.15 37 Best, p.582 38 Armstrong, p.10. Armstrong's account suggests that Te Tapiri lay 15 miles north of Murupara. However, Te Tapiri was sited well to the south of Murupara. 39 Tutakangahau, Whakatane Native Land Court minute book 2, 16 October 1890, fol 375; Harehare Atarea, Whakatane Native Land Court minute book 3, 20 October 1890, fol12 40 Armstrong, p.94 41 Best, pp.582-557; Hemy Tahawai Bird, Kuranui-o Ngati Manawa, Rotorua, Rotorua Printers, 1980, pp.19-20; Armstrong, , pp.9-11, 13 42 Armstrong, pp.13, 21; Paul & Paul, pp.20-35

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Figure 3. Ahikeruru-Te Tapiri-Opepe track across WhirinakL(186 Os)

Source: Sketch by Colonel Whitmore. Alexander Turnbull Library, MS Papers 161, Folder 3. Reproduced in Wynn Spring-Rice, 'The History and Archaeology of Fort Galatea, Bay of Plenty, New

Zealand, 1869-1969', MA thesis, University of Auckland, 1983, p.30

I .

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'Hauhau' movement.43 It is likely that their use and occupation of their Whirinaki kainga and cultivations were also severely disrupted during the war years; Ngati Whare and Tuhoe were also largely seen as 'rebels' in the eyes of the Government.

Despite being temporarily forced off their lands by wartime disruptions, Maori in the Taupo and Bay of Plenty regions managed to retain much of their land during this difficult time. Isolation and wartime disorder prevented significant Crown or private purchasing activities in the district. However, in the early 1870s the government embarked upon an extensive program of land purchasing in the central North Island. The object of the program was to facilitate settlement and the development of the colony's infrastructure in the Taupo and Bay of Plenty districts. It also had strategic implications given the region's geographical position with the King Country to the west and the Urewera district to the east.44 Blocks directly to the north, west and south of Whirinaki (Kuhawaea, Kaingaroa and Heruiwi) were leased and sold under this policy. However, Whirinaki does not appear to have been either offered to the Crown by resident Maori or independently targeted by Crown agents during these years of intense Crown activity.

The leasing and sale of land by Rangitaiki Maori during the 1870s and 1880s did not result in lasting prosperity, or even a comfortable existence, for many lessors and vendors. David Armstrong has examined the condition of Ngati Manawa during these decades. The war years had already caused considerable hardship for the iwi with the destruction of their crops and homes and their enforced absence from their cultivations.45 When they returned to their Rangitaiki and Whirinaki lands after 1872, Ngati Manawa urgently needed to gain some return from their lands or find employment in public works. While Ngati Manawa men engaged in road building in 1873, they worked in poor conditions and received low pay.46 The leasing and sale of land offered Rangitaiki Maori an alternative and potentially profitable form of income. However, Crown leases entered into by Ngati Manawa and other Maori failed to provide the lessors with a regular annual income that might have allowed them to participate on more equal terms with Europeans in the development of the colony. As Kathryn Rose has demonstrated in her review of Crown leasing in the Taupo and Bay of Plenty region in the 1870s, the Crown viewed and used the leases as a means of facilitating the purchase of Maori land.47 The Crown failed to pay rent in the majority of the Taupo leases. Although it entered into leasing arrangements with Maori in the early to mid-1870s, the Crown declined to pay any rentals until the Native Land Court had awarded titles to the leased blocks. At the same time, it suspended Court activities in the region, and thus prevented Maori from obtaining the necessary titles for their leased blocks. The Crown's activities prevented Rangitaiki Maori from obtaining much needed returns from the lands and helped push them into debt. The expenses associated with title investigations that were eventually held into

43 Best, p.167 44 Ibid, pp.1, 5-8 45 Armstrong, p.18 46 Armstrong, pp.23, 57, 59-61 47 Kathryn Rose, The Bait and the Hook: Crown Purchasing in Taupo and the Central Bay of Plenty in the 1870s, Crown Forestry Rental Trust, July 1997

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the leased blocks in the late 1870s and 1880s further added to Maori debt.48 One result of this was the alienation oflarge areas of land to the Crown.

Ngati Manawa and other Rangitaiki iwi and hapu experienced considerable distress during the 1870s and 1880s during their leasing and land sale dealings with the Crown. In 1875 Ngati Manawa asked the government for food and grass seed. In 1877, they again approached the government for aid following destruction of crops through flooding. The Bay of Plenty Times reported that Maori near Galatea, just north of Whirinaki, 'were suffering considerably from a scarcity of food after the recent floods' .49 The same year the Hawkes Bay Herald reported that Ngati Manawa chief Peraniko, a supporter of the Crown during the war years, died 'like a dog for want of medical aid and nourishment' .50 Long and inconvenient Court hearings for titles to land in the late 1870s and early 1880s placed further stress on the Rangitaiki peoples who were exposed to considerable accommodation and food supply expenses.51 In 1885 the Native Schools Inspector commented that Maori at Galatea, where many Ngati Manawa were based, 'require as much help as they can get, the circumstances by which they are surrounded being anything but cheering' .52 Crops had been destroyed by drought and typhoid was raging in the area. 53 The following year Tarawera erupted causing additional distress to Rangitaiki and Whirinaki Maori. 54 In late 1887 the teacher at Fort Galatea school asked the Education Department to provide food for starving children in the district.55

In 1885, in the midst of all these difficulties, Whirinaki Maori introduced sheep onto the northern end of the block. At the 1893 rehearing of the Whirinaki title, Te Marunui Rawiri of Ngati Apa stated that he had placed the sheep on the block and that Ngati Manawa had made no protest at the time.56 However, there appears to have been some dissension between the two groups regarding ownership of the sheep. During the 1890 title investigation of Whirinaki, Harehare Atarea of Ngati Manawa stated that he had equal authority over the sheep on the block with Ngati Apa. He noted that Te Marunui had bought the sheep on credit from a European (Mr Troutbeck) but that this was done in the name of the hapu and, as a result, Ngati Manawa had made no objection. Harehare then declared that Te Marunui had withheld money relating to the sheep from him and that he was about to take steps regarding this.57 It is not clear if this apparent conflict over the sheep was taken any further. During the hearings the Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa witnesses also referred to a past dispute between the two groups, which was resolved by 'the Commissioner' . The nature and date of this dispute are unclear. However, the Commissioner's

48 David Williams, 'Te Kooti Tango Whenua': The Native Land Court 1864-1909, Huia Publishers, Wellington, 1999, pp.194-196 49 Armstrong, p.69 50 Armstrong, p.76 51 Armstrong, pp.68-69, 77-78 52 AJHR, 1885, E2, p.9 53 Armstrong, p.91 54 Armstrong, pp.91-92 55 This request was turned down. Paul & Paul, pp.78-80 56 Rotorua Native Land Court minute book 26, 18 June 1893, fol 20 57 Whakatane Native Land Court minute book 3,22 October 1890, fol 36

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involvement apparently eased the tensions between Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa and resulted in Harehare Atarea building new houses on the Whirinaki block.58

2.4 Conclusion

The history of the ownership, occupation and usage of the Whirinaki block prior to the Native Land Court title investigation of 1890 is a complex account of intersecting and shifting hapu interests. During the 1890 hearing, Ngati Manawa and Ngati Apa claimants described many different dwelling places, fortifications, cultivation sites and hunting areas on Whirinaki. Their accounts were often contradictory. Nevertheless it does seem to have been agreed that the two groups shared a number of important residence sites. For example, Ngati Manawa and Ngati Apa were alleged to have lived together at Hikirewa and Ngahuinga and, in the 1840s, at Otukopeka and then at Tututarata (as noted in section 2.2, paragraph 5). The turbulence of the 1860s resulted in most Ngati Manawa temporarily departing from the block. Ngati Apa may also have left the block during these difficult times. When peace was restored in the early 1870s, Ngati Manawa returned to their Whirinaki kainga and cultivations. Ngati Whare were also alleged to have lived on the block for some time, at Te Tawa-O­Tionga, although it is unclear when this occupation commenced. In the 1870s and 1880s, most of Ngati Manawa and Ngati Apa appear to have been based at Galatea, just north of the Whirinaki block. A location survey carried out in 1893 showed that a few representatives of each group still resided on Whirinaki, principally along the Whirinaki River. The survey report stated that Ngati Apa ran sheep along the river but that the bulk of the Whirinaki block was only used as a pig run.59

58 Whakatane Native Land Court minute book 3, 22 October 1890, fols 36, 71 59 Henry Mitchell, Surveyor, and Alfred Yates, Assistant Surveyor, 'Location survey' Report, 4 February 1893, Waiariki MLC Closed Correspondence File 259 (Document Bank: B.8b & e)

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Chapter III

Title investigation and rehearing, 1890 and 1893

3.1 Summary

1887 Survey

1890 Title investigation 31,500 acres divided in 2 parts.

1893 Rehearing Whirinaki 1 Whirinaki 2 18,900 acres 12,600 acres to Ngati Apa to N gati Manawa

3.2 Whirinaki survey (circa 1887)

Ngati Apa commissioned the original survey for the Whirinaki block in or around 1887. Harehare Atarea of Ngati Manawa initially obstructed the survey but later agreed to let it proceed. The original plan of the block held by Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) is in very poor condition and some comments and signatures are illegible.6o A copy of the plan suggests that the original was submitted to the Assistant Surveyor General in 1887. However, it does not show this official's name and it is not clear whether the plan was approved at this time. The copy does not record the name of the surveyor but liens were later awarded to the surveyor Henry Mitchell. A note on the copy records that a Mr Kensington approved the plan 'as for subdivision' on 21 January 1890. This appears to be a transcription error as the block did not come before the Court until 14 October 1890 and the judge did not direct that the block be subdivided until 6 November 1890.

As a result of this survey, Whirinaki 1 and Whirinaki 2 incurred survey liens of £399 lOs 6d and £266 7s Od respectively: a cost of approximately five pence per acre.61

These survey liens, and their implications for the Whirinaki title-holders, are discussed in Chapter IV.

3.3 1890 Whirinaki Title investigation

Whirinaki came before the Native Land Court at Whakatane on 14 October 1890 on the application of Ngati Apa who claimed rights to the entire 31,500-acre block.62

Ngati Manawa, Ngati Materai (or Materae), and Ngati Tamakaimoana of Tuhoe

60 ML 5422(2), LINZ, Hamilton 61 Charging Order, 21 July 1893, Waiariki MLC BOP 2433a; LS 1 5589 box lOr, NA Wellington 62 Whakatane Native Land Court minute book 2, 14 October 1890, fol 355

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presented counter-claims to parts of the block. The hearing lasted three and a half weeks.

The hearing was held at Whakatane despite requests from Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa representatives that it be held closer to their homes. Rawiri Parakiri had asked in 1884 that hearings for Whirinaki and neighbouring blocks be held at Te Teko. Te Teko was located on the banks of the lower Rangitaiki River, 56 kilometres north of Galatea, where most Ngati Manawa lived, and 21 kilometres south-west of Whakatane. Although Rawiri represented Ngati Apa at the 1890 Whirinaki hearing, he wrote the letter on behalf of Ngati Manawa:

Sir, consider our petition, that you may really fix the sitting of the Court for hearing these claims at Te Teko; because great has been the suffering of this people in past Courts which sat at Matata and Whakatane. Those places were very distant from our district, and we suffered from the stopping idly at distant places among strangers.

This is a people having large landed possessions, and it is not right to take constantly the hearing to distant places.63

The following year, Harehare Atarea of Ngati Manawa repeated the request to have the hearing held at Te Teko. He stated that many of Ngati Manawa's lands had been adjudicated upon at places distant from their homes, including Whakatane, and that the tribe had suffered as a result from 'loss upon all those lands and in our persons, from scarcity of food and of houses, and of farms for our horses'. Rawiri Parakiri signed Harehare's 1885 letter.64 Although Harehare and Rawiri clearly considered Whakatane an inconvenient location for a hearing, it should be noted that some others were not opposed to a Whakatane-based hearing. In 1889, Kareko Whakaki and 21 others of N gati Manawa requested that the hearing for Whirinaki be held at Whakatane. These people appear to have resided in Whakatane, rather than Galatea where many other Ngati Manawa lived.65 Four of those whose names appeared on Kareko's letter later appeared on the schedule of owners for the block awarded to Ngati Apa in 1893 (Whirinaki 1).66

The hearing was ultimately held at Whakatane in October and November 1890, during the planting season and at the time of an influenza epidemic in the area. 67 This location was most inconvenient for both Ngati Apa and the majority of Ngati Manawa who lived on or near Whirinaki and who were ultimately acknowledged as the owners of the block. The Whirinaki hearing lasted three and a half weeks, from 14 October to 6 November 1891, but was immediately followed by a hearing into the Heruiwi 4 block to the south, also claimed by Ngati Manawa. This hearing lasted until 2 December 1891 when it was adjourned until late January 1892. The Whirinaki and

63 Rawiri Parakiri & others, to JE Macdonald, Chief Judge, 22 February 1884, Waiariki MLC Closed Correspondence Series 259 64 Harehare Atarea, to JE Macdonald, Chief Judge, 3 October 1885, Waiariki MLC Closed Correspondence Series 259 65 Karaka Whakaki and others, to Native Land Court, 24 Akuhata 1889, Waiariki MLC Closed Correspondence Series 259 66 Schedule of owners for Whirinaki 1, 19 July 1893, Waiariki MLC BOF 2433a. These four people were Titihuia Horomona, Peti Horomona, Te Kororiko Watana and Harata Watana. 67 Paul & Paul, p.82; Armstrong, p.92

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Heruiwi title investigations thus kept the Ngati Manawa claimants away from their homes and cultivations for around six weeks.

Claimants and counter-claimants spoke at length about their respective claims to the land at the 1890 Whirinaki title investigation. The Court first heard from Ngati Materai, followed by Tuhoe, Ngati Manawa and Ngati Apa.

3.3.1 Ngati Materai's case

Wharetini Te Waea, spokesman for Ngati Materai, asserted the hapu's right to a portion of land in the northern end of the block. Wharetini stated that his ancestor Materai was a descendent of Apa. Apa had conquered the Marangaranga people who had originally resided in the area. Materai's daughter Hine Ngawari married Hape, a descendent of Tangiharuru (Ngati Manawa's ancestor for the block), but Materai, not Hape, was the ancestor for the land claimed. At one point in his evidence, Wharetini noted that those he claimed for were now known as Ngati Rangitihi. Wharetini suggested that no-one lived permanently on the area claimed by Ngati Materai but that Materai's descendents had lived on the land at times in the past. Materai's chief place of residence had been outside the block at Te Whaiti, to the south-east of Whirinaki. Wharetini told the Court that, '[t]he occupation by my ancestors outside this block in various places I regard as giving me a claim to this block which was really unoccupied'. He stated that his wife and family now lived on Whirinaki.68

3.3.2 Tuhoe's case

Tutakangahau gave evidence on behalf of the Tamakaimoana hapu of Tuhoe. He claimed rights to a part of Whirinaki through the ancestor Apa but also claimed rights through the conquest of Ngati Manawa and through occasional occupation of the land. Tutakangahau described the killing and capture of Ngati Manawa on several occasions. On one of these occasions, an Urewera war party captured Ngati Manawa's Okarea pa on the Waiatiu tributary of the Whirinaki River (on the Te Whaiti block). Tutakangahau commented that until this time, Ngati Manawa had lived undisturbed on Whirinaki. He declared that, following the capture of Okarea pa, Ngati Manawa fled south to join their Ngati Apa relatives at Tarawera but were later driven to Te Putere by Ngati Kahungunu. Some of Tuhoe took pity on the defeated Ngati Manawa and brought them to Ruatahuna where they were given Tuhoe wives. According to Tutakangahau, Tuhoe resettled Ngati Manawa on their former Whirinaki lands where their descendents remained until the war with the government broke out around 1865. Tutakangahau argued that Ngati Manawa's rights to the land did not survive wholly intact following their resettlement on the block. He informed that Court that he was N gati Manawa's 'defender' after that time and that they lived on the block under Tuhoe's mana. Tutakangahau also spoke of Tuhoe's capture of Te Tapiri pa in 1865, Ngati Manawa's subsequent departure from the block and their return to the land around 1872. In addition to claiming land through conquest, Tutakangahau claimed rights in the land derived through occupation and the burial of

68 Whakatane Native Land Court minute book 2, 14-15 October 1890, fo1s 357-360, 364, 367

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ancestors. He stated that some Tuhoe had lived on the block after Ngati Manawa left in the 1820s and that Tuhoe dead had been buried there.69

3.3.3 Ngati Manawa's case

Ngati Manawa, under the leadership of Harehare Atarea, claimed rights to the whole of the Whirinaki block through conquest, ancestry and occupation. The Court heard Ngati Manawa's evidence over four days. The claim of conquest rested on the defeat and expulsion of the Marangaranga people from the area by the Ngati Manawa ancestor Tangiharuru. Harehare linked Ngati Manawa's claim on Whirinaki to the iwi's successful claims on Kaingaroa 1, Heruiwi and Kuhawaea, for which Tangiharuru had also been set up as the ancestor. He declared that Tangiharuru had divided Whirinaki between his children and described the boundaries of each award. Harehare informed the Court that he had initially obstructed the survey of the block. First, because it included land belonging to a particular descendent of Tangiharuru, and second, because he wished the survey to include all his lands west of Whirinaki, 'as by so doing the whole of Tangiharuru' s land would be included'.

Harehare objected to Ngati Apa's claim to the land through their ancestor Apa. He argued that only those Ngati Apa descended from Tangiharuru had rights to Whirinaki. He similarly rejected the Ngati Materai claim on the block through the ancestor Materai, although he accepted that Materai's daughter had an interest in the land through her husband Hape, a son of Tangiharuru. Harehare noted that some of Ngati Whare, whose lands lay to the east of Whirinaki, had married Ngati Manawa and had cultivated on Whirinaki. However, he declared that the land involved had since been returned to him. Harehare rejected the Tuhoe account of Ngati Manawa's departure from the block in the 1820s. He declared that Ngati Manawa had not been dispossessed by other tribes and that occupation under Tangiharuru was constant and by right. Harehare also provided the Court with detailed descriptions of boundaries, landmarks, hunting and eeling places, cultivations, settlements, houses and pas on Whirinaki.70

3.3.4 Ngati Apa 's case

The claimants, Ngati Apa, were the last group to give evidence. Rawiri Parakiri presented their case to the Court over a period of seven days. Rawiri claimed the entire block for Ngati Apa on the grounds of conquest, ancestry and occupation. He stated that the ancestor Apa's grandchildren had arrived on the block following the conquest of the Marangaranga and that Apa's lands extended from Kaingaroa 1 on Whirinaki's western border to Whirinaki's eastern boundary. Rawiri initially argued that the Ngati Manawa ancestor Tangiharuru did not conquer the Marangaranga on Whirinaki and that his conquest occurred outside the block. He suggested that Tangiharuru's lands lay to the east and south of Whirinaki. However, later in his testimony he acknowledged that Tangiharuru had conquered the Marangaranga in an area in the south of the block and that some of his descendents had rights there

69 Whakatane Native Land Court minute book 2, 16 October 1890, fols 373-375; Whakatane Native Land Court minute book 3,20 October 1890, fo18 1-12 70 Whakatane Native Land Court minute book 3,20-23 October 1890, fo18 12-39

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through the ancestors Wharekoiwi and Hana. He suggested, nevertheless, that Ngati Manawa had not occupied various parts of the block and that they had come to live on the land when Rawiri's father gathered Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa together for church purposes.71

In later years, Tuhoe informants suggested to Elsdon Best that the alleged Ngati Apa conquest of the Marangaranga was not proven and that, '[N gati Apa] came to this district as fugitives from Taupo, in order to seek refuge among Ngati-Manawa'. Best concluded that the conquest 'appears to have been invented in late times for the benefit of the Native Land Court, to enhance the prestige of Ngati-Apa, and give them a better sounding right to local lands'. 72

As Harehare Atarea had done for Ngati Manawa, Rawiri linked the Ngati Apa claim to Whirinaki to earlier claims on the surrounding blocks of Kaingaroa 1, Heruiwi and Kuhawaea. He stated that Tangiharuru and Apa had been acknowledged as the ancestors for Kaingaroa 1 (although he himself did not recognise Tangiharuru in Kaingaroa), that Hineuru of Ngati Apa was one of the ancestors for Heruiwi and that the descendents of Apa who were connected with Tangiharuru got into Kuhawaea. Rawiri suggested that Tangiharuru's descendents had got into Apa's lands.73

Rawiri described significant food places, settlements and landmarks on the block as well as various skirmishes or battles that had taken place on the land. He made specific objections to a number of the claims made by the counter-claimants regarding the location and nature of eeling places, rahui posts and boundaries. He also objected to the idea that Ngati Materai should be considered a hapu. He suggested that Materai was 'merely the name of an ancestor' and that the lands of Materai's son-in-law Hape, a more relevant ancestor, lay to the east of Whirinaki. Rawiri also challenged Tuhoe's claim. While he admitted that Tuhoe had killed people on and near Whirinaki, he argued that they had not gained possession of the land.74

3.3.5 Judgment

The Court issued its judgment on 6 November 1890. Judge Gudgeon dismissed Ngati Materai's claim to Whirinaki on the grounds that, 'there is no such tribe as N'Materai'. He noted that Materai had only one daughter and her marriage with Hape had produced Ngati Hape, not Ngati Materai. Those claiming under this name had offered similar evidence of occupation to that that offered by Ngati Manawa and the judge suggested they claim through their Ngati Manawa connections. The Court also dismissed the Tuhoe claim. Judge Gudgeon suggested that Tuhoe had extinguished any claim to the land when they brought Ngati Manawa back to Whirinaki. Furthermore, he did not believe that Tuhoe had provided adequate evidence regarding their occupation of the block and he concluded that Tuhoe men had occupied the land by right of their Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa wives, or with the special permission of these tribes:75

71 Whakatane Native Land Court minute book 3,23-31 October, fo1s 39, 56, 60, 65, 81-82 72 Best, p.153 73 Whakatane Native Land Court minute book 3, 23-31 October, fo1s 65-66, 68 74 Whakatane Native Land Court minute book 3, 23-31 October, fo1s 42-48,51-52 75 Whakatane Native Land Court minute book 3, 6 November, fo1s 100-102

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No satisfactory occupation of this land by the Uriwera [sic] or Tuhoe people has been proved. In those cases mentioned by Tutakangahau in which ancestors of his tribe have cultivated on the block, it has been shown that these men occupied by right of N' Apa and N'Manawa wives, or lived on the land by special permission of these tribes.

The Court is of [the] opinion that Tuhoe have no mana over the Whirinaki lands by virtue of conquest or occupation, whatever mana they may have is over the men, not the land; that, moreover, even though they had at one time conquered the land, the fact of bringing back the original owners (as they allege they did) and putting them in exclusive possession of the land would in itself have extinguished the Tuhoe claim.76

With regard to the claims of Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa, the judge considered the evidence regarding ancestry and occupation as 'quite complicating, N'Manawa & N' Apa contradicting each other on all essential points.' He concluded that Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa both had rights to the block. The two groups had lived together on the block at various times and each had established rights to the land through occupation and cultivation. While the judge considered that Ngati Apa had the largest right, he suggested that this was not an exclusive right. He subsequently awarded three fifths of the block to Rawiri Parakiri and those he represented (Ngati Apa) and the remaining two fifths to those represented by Harehare Atarea (Ngati Manawa).77

3.4 1893 Whirinaki rehearing

Ngati Apa were not satisfied with the Court's decision and applied for a rehearing.78

Judge Gudgeon explained the basis for his decision to the Chief Judge, H.G. Seth­Smith, in May 1891. He suggested those claiming under Ngati Apa were really Ngati Manawa using the name of Apa to distinguish their claim from Harehare Atarea's claim:

It was clear to the Court that these so called descendents of Apa were in fact Ngatimanawa and had only lived on this land as such ... they had raised the name of Ngatiapa for the sale purpose of enabling them to set up a claim independent to that of Harehare the real chief of the tribe. It is quite clear that these people had however a large claim on the Whirinaki block by right of occupation and that they were in part descended from Apa but the Court was of [the] opinion that they had not an exclusive right to the whole block. Of course they object to my not giving exclusive credence to their take and hope to be more successful on a second occasion.

76 Whakatane Native Land Court minute book 3,6 November, fol102 77 Whakatane Native Land Court minute book 3,6 November 1890, fols 102-105 78 Te Marunui Rawiri and others, Application for Rehearing, 30 Tihema 1890, Waiariki MLC Closed Correspondence File 259

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Gudgeon added that, 'either party may be entitled to a few acres more or less than they have received' but noted that it was difficult to apportion interests where it was 'evident that the claimants belong to one and the same tribe' .79

The Chief Judge nevertheless determined that a rehearing should be held for the Whirinaki block. A 'location survey' was carried out, with the assistance of the Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa claimants, to identify the locations of significant boundaries and landmarks on the block, including cultivations, bird-snaring areas, houses, burial sites and marker posts. The survey focused on disputed sites, that is, on those places where Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa could not agree about the location, boundaries or history of the site. The surveyor, Henry Mitchell, and his assistant, Alfred Yates, presented the Court with a sketch of the block and a detailed report describing specific landmarks and the histories of these, as recounted by the claimants during his inspection of the block. Unfortunately, the sketch is missing from the Waiariki Maori Land Court file and has not been found in any other of the Whirinaki files reviewed for this report. The report identified some Ngati Manawa and Ngati Apa living at a place on the block called Otikanga in the north of the block near the Whirinaki stream. However, Mitchell commented that few people now lived on the block and that, while Ngati Apa ran sheep along the Whirinaki River, most of the block was used as a pig run:

There are no others living on the block I believe at present excepting all those places marked, along the Whirinaki stream, and those only muster a few. Te Mihiroa and Rewi's kainga being the most important apparently, (No.7). Ngatiapa party have sheep depasturing all along the Whirinaki - but the ~reat bulk of the block is only used by the Natives as a pig run, as far as I learned. 0

Native Land Court Judges Loughlin O'Brien and Spencer von Sturmer, and assessor Tuta Tamati, considered Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa's respective claims to the land in June and July 1893.81 The Ngati Apa applicants 'absolutely' denied the right of N gati Manawa to the land. While their spokesman Hapimana Parakiri agreed that the descendents of Tangiharuru had rights in the south of the block through the ancestor Wharekoiwi, he stated that the Ngati Manawa counter-claimants represented by Harehare were not among those descendents.

3.4.1 Judgment

As occurred at the original hearing, the Court concluded that the Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa claimants were effectively one people and that both had rights to the land derived from occupation. The judges suggested that their different 'Take' had only been set up for Native Land Court purposes. While '[t]here may have been some parts more particularly occupied by a family, or a portion of the people, ... they are practically one people, by intermarriages mostly, and joint occupation'. The judges

79 Judge Gudgeon to Chief Judge, Native Land Court, 19 May 1891, Waiariki MLC Closed Correspondence File 259 80 Henry Mitchell, Surveyor, and Alfred Yates, Assistant Surveyor, 'Location survey' Report, 4 February 1893, Waiariki MLC Closed Correspondence File 259 (Document Bank: B.8b, B.8e) 81 Rotorua Native Land Court minute book 26, 15-19 June 1893, fols 4-20; 14 July 1893, 169-171, 177-178, 186

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reinforced this conclusion by pointing out that the conductors of the two parties had tried to include the names of certain individuals on their own lists while attempting to have the same names struck off the other party's list.

The judges awarded the block without division to both parties and suggested they apply to another Court to have the block partitioned. Although they did not divide the block, the judges awarded a total of 1000 shares in the land to the two parties: 600 to Ngati Apa and 400 to Ngati Manawa.82 The two groups subsequently came to an agreement regarding the division of the block and expressed their satisfaction with the result. 83 At a partition hearing held the day after the judgment was announced, the Court awarded Ngati Apa the western part of the block, Whirinaki 1, and Ngati Manawa the eastern side of the block, Whirinaki 2 (see Figure 2). Both blocks were to be inalienable.84 In theory, this meant that the blocks were not to be sold, mortgaged or leased for a period of 21 years.85 As will be seen below, this protection was not effective and did little to assist the Whirinaki owners to retain the bulk of the blocks.

Block Acres Number of owners Whirinaki 1 18,900 139 Whirinaki 2 12,600 148

The newly recognised owners of the two blocks incurred Court fees of £34 11s Od. A note on the Court order indicates that this fee was paid but does not record when this occurred or who made the payment.86

3.5 Conclusion

The lengthy Whirinaki title investigation in 1890, and the subsequent rehearing of the case in 1893, give rise to three issues worthy of some consideration: first, the Court's treatment of customary rights and relationships; second, the timing of the title investigation; and third, the cost to Maori of participating in the Native Land Court process.

3.5.1 The Court and Maori customary rights and relationships

The Native Land Court's treatment of Maori customary rights and relationships has been criticised by a number of scholars.87 It has been suggested that Pakeha judges lacked the capacity, or cultural experience, to comprehend the extremely complex nature of Maori rights to land, and that some judges favoured land-selling Maori over those opposed to land sales. This ignorance, and/or bias, may have resulted in overly simplistic or unjust decisions. It is certainly true that judges were often required to

82 Rotorua Native Land Court minute book 26, 14 July, fols 169-171 83 Rotorua Native Land Court minute book 26,15 & 17 July 1893, fols 171, 177-178 84 Rotorua Native Land Court minute book 26,17 July 1893, fols 177-178, 186 85 Alan Ward, National Overview, vo1.2, Waitangi Tribunal Rangahaua Whanui Series, Wellington, 1997, p.263 86 Court Order, 19 July 1893, Waiariki MLC BOP 2433a 87 Williams, pp.187-189

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adjudicate in cases where claimants and counterclaimants presented complex and often conflicting accounts of their relationship with land and with each other. In the case of Whirinaki, the judges were confronted in 1890 and 1893 with detailed but contradictory evidence regarding the claimants and counter-claimants' rights to the block. The Court hearings also took place within a wider context of Maori seeking to advance their own tribal interests, and perhaps redefine their relationships and rights, following the turmoil of the New Zealand wars. The question here is whether the judges sufficiently appreciated all the nuances of Maori customary rights and relationships with regard to Whirinaki, and whether they were in a position to objectively evaluate the claims and counter-claims.

From this distance, it is difficult the gauge the cultural competence of the judges and their ability to weigh up the different take put forward by claimants and counter­claimants. The contesting parties based their claims on three main take: ancestry (take tupuna); occupation; and conquest (take raupatu). In 1890, Judge Gudgeon awarded the title to Whirinaki to those people who appeared to have occupied and cultivated on the block for the longest period of time: Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa. For Gudgeon, evidence of longstanding occupation was the most important take. The judges in the 1893 rehearing agreed. Although Tuhoe may have been politically and militarily dominant in the general area in the nineteenth century up until the New Zealand wars, their conquest-based claim was not considered valid by either Court investigation. Occupation, rather than conquest, was the main issue for the Court. It is possible that Tuhoe's history of resistance to the Crown, the tarring of its peoples as 'rebels' during the New Zealand wars, and its opposition to the operation of the Native Land Court itself, may have resulted in some prejudice against Tuhoe on the part of the Court.88 However, there is no direct evidence of judicial bias in the Native Land Court minutes of the Whirinaki hearings. The question of bias is an issue that requires more detailed consideration, and a much wider context, than is possible in this report. It should perhaps be noted, that Ngati Apa, who were awarded the bulk of the Whirinaki land, were also generally considered as 'rebels' by the Crown during the war years.

It is not within this writer's expertise to state with confidence whether the Court's interpretation of Maori customary rights and relationships was fair and without bias with regard to the Whirinaki title investigation and rehearing. The Court clearly had a difficult task in front of it. The claimants and counter-claimants vigorously promoted their competing tribal interests before the judges. The Court appears to have acted as a forum within which Maori battled with each other, as much as with a Pakeha imposed system, to lay claim to land. The Court was also dependent on the evidence placed before it. It was not in a position to consider the evidence of those, such as Ngati Whare, who were not independently represented during the title investigation and who may have had alternative narratives of conquest and occupation to offer the Court. In the face of complex, contradictory, and perhaps partial, evidence, the Court settled for an award of land to those parties who appeared to have occupied the block for the longest period of time and who had strong ancestral claims to the land. That the Court, in 1893, went to the effort and expense of carrying out a location survey in

88 In 1872, Te Whitu Tekau, a council of Tuhoe chiefs, prohibited surveys and the taking of Tuhoe land before the Native Land Court: Miles, p.194

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order to more properly identify traditional hunting, gathering and cultivation sites, as well as sites of residence, suggests that it recognised the importance of making as fair and accurate an award as possible. The most that can be said in this report regarding the Court's treatment of Maori customary rights and relationships is that it appears to have made a sincere effort to reconcile the competing narratives presented to it and to award the land in fair proportions to those with the most long-standing ties to the block.

3.5.2 The timing of the title investigation

The title investigation of Whirinaki took place in 1890, at a time of increased Crown interest in opening up the Urewera. This interest ran counter to Tuhoe's clearly expressed opposition to European encroachment on their land. In 1872 a council of Tuhoe chiefs, Te Whitu Tekau, had prohibited surveying of Tuhoe land and the taking of the land through the Native Land Court. This opposition to Crown and settler incursions onto Tuhoe land persisted into the 1890s and was based on a well-founded concern that surveys and Court involvement often resulted in the loss of land.89

Whirinaki lay on the edges of Tuhoe territory, or within it according to Tuhoe accounts. Its passage through the Native Land Court represented a chipping away of Tuhoe's control over the wider area.

It is unclear whether Crown agents encouraged the claimants, Ngati Apa, to take the land through the Court as a means of undermining Tuhoe's position. The principal counter-claimants, Ngati Manawa, certainly appear to have cooperated with the Crown in opening up blocks in this area. In 1894, at a meeting with the Premier in Galatea, Harehare Atarea declared,

through the co-operation of the Ngatimanawa and Ngatiwhare, this country is now opened up . .. All the surveys in this country were effected by the Ngatimanawa in obedience to the behest of the Government against all opposition; and every survey we have carried through successfully. All this land you see here was handed over unconditionally to the Government. We always acted under the instructions of the Government.90

Research carried out for this report found no direct evidence of a similar degree of co-operation between the Crown and Ngati Apa. Some such Crown involvement is, however, a distinct possibility given the Government's wish to open up the Urewera at this time. It is also possible that Ngati Apa anticipated that Ngati Manawa would take Whirinaki through the Court and so acted first in order to better protect their own interests in the land. Once the land had come before the Court, Tuhoe representatives had no choice but to participate in the system in order to defend their own perceived rights in Whirinaki.

The Whirinaki block eventually formed the western boundary of the Urewera Native Reserve created in 1896.

89 Miles, pp.l94, 237-244 90 AJHR, 1895, G-l, p.65

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3.5.3 The costs to Maori of participating in the Native Land Court process

Participation in the Native Land Court process could result in significant costs to Maori, particularly when, as in the case of Whirinaki, hearings were held at a considerable distance from the participants' homes. In addition to incurring food and accommodation expenses, claimants and counter-claimants were taken away from their cultivations, sometimes at crucial times in the gardening calendar. The Whirinaki hearing was held in Whakatane, some 50 miles from the kainga of Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa, during planting time in October and November 1890. Tuhoe and other counter-claimants were no doubt similarly inconvenienced by having to attend a hearing well away from their kainga and cultivations.

By the time Whirinaki came before the Native Land Court at Whakatane, Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa had already incurred significant costs as a result of attending Court hearings in Matata and Whakatane to determine titles to Rangitaiki blocks, including Kaingaroa 1, Kuhawaea and Heruiwi.91 Evidence prepared for Te Runanganui 0 Te Ika Whenua describes the impact on Ngati Manawa of attending lengthy Court hearings for Kaingaroa 1 and Heruiwi at Matata in 1878:

This mid-winter hearing, described elsewhere as a 'marathon' subsequently lasted for seven weeks, during which time Ngati Manawa were forced to rely on the hospitality of their Ngati Rangitihi friends. The usual 'predatory horde' of grog-sellers, storekeepers, native agents and lawyers were in attendance, and many Maori present at the court were observed to be drunk. On August 11 Mauparoa of Ngati Manawa told the court that Ngati Rangitihi were now bereft of food and both they and his people were suffering grievously as a result.92

In 1912 former land purchase officer Gilbert Mair declared that attending hearings in Whakatane was a cause of 'grievous and unnecessary hardship' to Ngati Manawa. Mair commented that he had known Ngati Manawa 'to squander many thousands of pounds through being forced to attend the Land Court at Whakatane, to say nothing of sickness and death caused by want of food and proper accommodation. ,93

In 1884 and 1885, Rawiri Parakiri and Harehare Atarea reminded the Chief Judge that they had suffered in the past from attending Court hearings at Matata and Whakatane and they asked for the hearings for Whirinaki and other Rangitaiki blocks to be held at Te Teko, near Galatea. The other blocks mentioned by Rawiri and Harehare included Heruiwi 4, Pohokura, Te Whaiti, Raungaehu, Tuararangaia, Oruatewehi and Rangipo Rokowaewae.94 As noted earlier, while one group of Ngati Manawa requested that the Whirinaki hearing be held at Whakatane, this group does not appear to have included or represented a significant number of Ngati Manawa. Rawiri stated that Galatea was the 'proper place' for Ngati Manawa but acknowledged that the

91 Kaingaroa 1: title investigation, Matata, 31 July-17 September 1878; rehearing, Whakatane, 27 October-4 November 1880. Kuhawaea: title investigation, 26 September-20 October 1882. Heruiwi 1-3: Matata, 22 July 1878. 92 D Armstrong, 'Te Ika Whenua and the Crown' (Wai 212: Ea), cited in Williams, p.194 93 Gilbert Mair, Waiotapu, to Native Minister, 24 May 1912, MA 13/90, NA Wellington 94 Rawiri Parakiri & others, to JE Macdonald, Chief Judge, 22 February 1884 & Harehare Atarea & 11 others, to JE MacDonald, Chief Judge Native Land Court, June 1885, Heruiwi Closed File 14, Waiariki MLC (Wai 212 ROD, doc E6b:2, p.29)

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settlement lacked sufficient accommodation for the judges and other officers of the Court. He recommended Te Teko as a more suitable location for both the Court and Ngati Manawa:

It is not far from our homes, and there is accommodation for the Court, and the persons attending the Court, and an enclosure for the horses, and food for all the people; and Te Teko is near the telegraph office at Whakatane. 95

A licensed interpreter wrote in support of Rawiri's request. He stated that:

the granting of this request would be a great boon to these tribes - and as they are very large landowners & the claims mentioned cover a very extensive area of country in that neighborhood their petition is entitled to receive great consideration.96

Despite this commendation, and the claims of suffering put forward by Rawiri and Harehare, the evidence of which must have been obvious to Court and government officers during the earlier hearings, officials elected to hold hearings into the Rangitaiki blocks at Whakatane. Alfred Preece advised the Native Land Court in 1884 that Te Teko could not provide sufficient accommodation for a Court or Court staff. He recommended Whakatane for the proposed hearing and commented that, 'the Natives can go in their Waka from Te Teko to Whakatane.'97 The location of the hearing was clearly chosen to suit the requirements of the Court rather than the many Ngati Apa, Ngati Manawa and other claimants who had interests in the blocks under consideration. The Whakatane hearings into Whirinaki and Heruiwi 4 were not held until 1890. Given the serious inconvenience to Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa of attending lengthy Court hearings in Whakatane, it might be asked whether the Crown could have used the intervening time to assist the hapu to develop facilities to allow the hearing to be held closer to their homes and cultivations.

95 Rawiri Parakiri & others, to JE Macdonald, Chief Judge, 22 February 1884, Waiariki MLC Closed Correspondence Series 259 96 Covering note, licensed interpreter (name illegible), 25 February 1884, Waiariki MLC Closed Correspondence Series 259 97 Alfred Preece, to Registrar, Native Land Court, 5 April 1884, Waiariki MLC Closed Correspondence Series 259

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Chapter IV

Survey liens and alienations, 1893-1899

4.1 Summary

1893 1895 acres:

1896 1899 acres:

Whirinaki 1 Survey lien: £399 lOs 6d

1;'1;$;1 ' ! s.21.$.3 '.' , 1 sA l'lQ,111' 330 ,'lZ38 7,221 . ToCto'WQ, · .. 'tOCrown

". , ... Survey lien £36 13s 7d

lsAA' 1 sAB as! 6,940

To Crown i .. " ..••.... > ' .. '

Total acquired by Crown: Total retained by grantees: Mode of acquisition:

2s.1 400

Whirinaki 2 Survey lien: £266 7s Od

, ....~S.2., .'. 2 s.328A 9802· 2,050348

IoCrowu' ... TOCrowll·'· . ... , .' , .. ' '.'" '.' .... : : ', ... Survey lien £10 8s 2d

...... ···:2s.3A 2 s.3B

:.7.0 1980 . To.€rown

..... '>

21,850 acres 69% 9,650 acres 31 %

Part survey costs, part purchased

4.2 Crown takeover of Whirinaki survey liens

Following the Whirinaki rehearing in July 1893, the Native Land Court charged Whirinaki 1 and 2 with survey liens payable to the surveyor Henry Mitchell. The Court charged Whirinaki 1 with a lien of £399 lOs 6d and Whirinaki 2 with a lien of £266 7s Od: approximately five pence per acre.98

Mitchell carried out a range of surveys in the Rotorua, Bay of Plenty and Galatea districts on borrowed money in the late 1880s and early 1890s. Hutton Troutbeck, who leased land on the Kuhawaea block directly north of Whirinaki, was one of those who made advances to Mitchell 'on account of the survey of certain native lands' .99

Mitchell ran into difficulties when the Maori owners of the blocks were unable to sell the land to private buyers in order to settle the survey debts. 100 He was adjudged a bankrupt in 1894. Mitchell's official bankruptcy assignee John Lawson subsequently petitioned the Crown to take over the outstanding liens. Lawson asserted that the Maori owners of the blocks wished to settle the debts by giving land to those holding

98 Charging Order, 21 July 1893, Waiariki MLC BOF 2433a; LS 1 5589 box lOr, NA Wellington 99 Cotterill & Humphries, Solicitors, to SW Von Sturmer, Native Land Court, 28 December 1893, Waiariki MLC Closed Correspondence File 259. The letter suggested that if the Court granted survey liens over the Whirinaki block to Mitchell then these should be transferred to the executor of Troutbeck's estate. 100 A number of the blocks concerned lay within the Rotorua thermal springs district and were subject to the Thermal Springs Act which, TW Lewis informed the Native Minister, 'prevents the Natives satisfying claims for survey work in either land or money': Lewis to Native Minister, 2 June 1890, LS 1 5589 box lOr, NA Wellington. The Whirinaki blocks themselves did not lie within this district however the non-payment of the liens on these and other Bay of Plenty and Galataea blocks contributed to Mitchell's more general money woes.

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the liens but they were effectively prevented from doing so due to various legislative obstacles:

4. The Native owners have been and are now desirous of freeing their lands from these costs of survey and accruing interest thereon by conveying lands to the Surveyor of the holders of the liens of sufficient value to cover the amount due, and the Surveyors are willing to accept such lands in payment in lieu of money. 5. But the difficulty is that legislation of late years renders the conveyance of Native lands to Europeans a matter of so much trouble and cost as in most cases to effectually prevent the Native owners and Surveyors thus settling the survey costs mentioned in the Schedule. Consequently year by year goes by without anything being done, while all concerned - the Native owners, the Surveyors, and their tradesmen - are suffering grievous loss, and, in several cases, ruin, from the protracted delay in coming to a settlement. lOl

The Crown took over the liens on Whirinaki 1 and 2 in 1895. By this time, interest of £18 2s 10d had accrued on the liens on the two blocks.102

4.3 1895 Crown acquisition of 21,499 acres

The Crown settled the outstanding liens on the Whirinaki blocks in 1895 by taking land in lieu of the survey costs at the rate of approximately three shillings per acre.103

It is unclear how this figure was arrived at. The Maori Land Purchase files do not contain any information regarding the valuation of the land, such as the extent of timber on the block or the presence or absence of access roads (see section 4.5.5 for further discussion of the valuation of the land). The Crown increased the area acquired at this time by purchasing individual interests in the blocks (under section 76 of the Native Land Court Act 1894) at the same rate. 104 The Crown thus acquired a total of 21,499 acres of the 31,500-acre Whirinaki block in 1895 in four subdivisions: 66 percent of the total Whirinaki area (see Figure 4) .105

To CROWN

Block Acres Survey Approximale Cash paid to Approxlmate liens 106 acreage sellers . acreage

£.s.d acquired by £.s.d acquired by liens cash

Whirinaki 1 sec. 1 10,111 £399.10.06 2664 £1254.00.06 8360 Whirinaki 1 sec. 3 1,238 Whirinaki 2 sec. 2 9,802 £266.07.00 1775 £1301.18.00 8679 Whirinaki 2 sec. 4 348

101 Petition of J Lawson, Official Assignee re Survey Liens over Native Lands, LS 1 5589 box lOr, NA Wellington 102 J Lawson, Official Assignee in Bankruptcy, to Minister for Native Affairs, 29 October 1894; Petition, undated, LS 1 5589 box lOr, NA Wellington 103 The acreage price comes to 2.99 shillings per acre rather than the three shillings per acre listed in the AJHR ('Lands Finally Acquired', AJHR 1896, G-3, pp.2-3). At the full three shillings per acre the Crown should have paid an extra three pounds for the land, or have received 21 acres less than the 21,499 acres actually acquired. 104 'Lands Finally Acquired', AJHR, 1896, G-3, pp.2-3 105 CT 86/152 (Wai 212 C3A voLl F.19) 106 LS 1 5589 box lOr, NA Wellington.

,

Total 21,499 £665.17.06 4439 '--, , £2555.18.06 17,039

Total price including st1l'veyJiens f'.3221. 16.00 (around 3 shillings per acre) ~ 21% acquitedthrough survey liens ~" 79%acguired through monetary payments

The Crown acquired land in lieu of the lien under section 65 of the Native Land Court Act 1894. The legislation empowered the Court to vest land burdened by survey liens in the person to whom the survey debt was owed. In the case of Whirinaki, a proportion of the lien was deducted from payments made to the vendors and the non­sellers gave up land in proportion to their share of the lien. 107 The £18 2s 10d interest accrued on the survey lien was not taken into account by the Court when it awarded Whirinaki land to the Crown. Although the Native Land Purchase Department instructed its officer Richard Gill to ensure that the interest was taken into consideration, the message arrived too late. Gill informed the Department on receipt of the telegram that the partition had been carried out and 'all [was] provided for except interest' .108 The Department, rather than the Whirinaki Maori grantees, thus carried the cost of interest on the original lien. However, the Maori owners carried the full cost of the original lien of £665.

Although the Court had placed alienation restrictions on the titles of Whirinaki 1 and 2, the Crown was nevertheless able to purchase individual interests in the blocks. The Liberal government pursued a vigorous land purchase policy during the 1890s. It introduced a raft of legislation designed to further its land purchase program, including measures that seriously undermined Court imposed alienation restrictions.109 Legislation passed in the late 1880s had already made it easier for restrictions on Maori land to be removed. 11o The Liberals further weakened this protective mechanism: section 14 of the Native Land Purchases Act 1892 enabled the governor in Council to remove or declare void restrictions on the alienation of Maori land, provided 'that any such removal or avoidance shall only operate in favour of the Crown'. Crown purchases were also facilitated through the enactment of the Native Land Court Act 1894. Section 52 of the Act gave the Native Land Court the authority to remove restrictions on Maori land while section 117 imposed a Crown purchase monopoly by prohibiting private persons from acquiring any estate or interest in any Maori-owned land. The Liberals' Maori land legislation of the 1890s helped simplify the confused legislative mechanisms of previous decades.1l1 However, as it was designed to do, it facilitated the sale of a significant proportion of Maori land, including the Whirinaki blocks.

The Native Land Court awarded the Crown its purchased interests in the block under section 78 of the Native Land Court Act 1894. The 178 sellers in Whirinaki 1 and 2

107 Gill to Sheridan, 19 December 1895, MA-MLP 11897/200, NA, Wellington 108 P Sheridan, Native Land Purchase Department, to RJ Gill,S December 1895; RJ Gill to Sheridan, 7 December 1895, MA-MLP 1 1897/200, NA Wellington 109 Ward, Overview, vo1.2, p.247 110 Section 5, Native Land Act 1888 111 Ward, Overview, vo1.2, p.247

signed one deed for interests in both blocks: Crown purchase deed 1952.112 The Crown acquired the first signatures in January 1895 and completed its purchases in November of that year. Two people, including a licensed interpreter, witnessed each seller's signature. As required under the legislation, the deed contained a plan of Whirinaki, a written description of its boundaries and a statement in Maori certified by a licensed interpreter as containing a clear statement of the contents of the deed.

The Crown acquired the interests of eight minors in Whirinaki. Section 2 of the Maori Real Estate Management Act 1888 Amendment Act 1893 required a Native Land Court judge to approve the alienation of minor interests in Maori land by placing 'a minute of his approval' of the transaction on the deed. Although the deed was presented to and signed by a Native Land Court Judge, it does not contain specific minuted approvals of the alienations of minors' interests in Whirinaki. The money for the shares of the minor owners was paid to the Public Trustee as required under the Maori Real Estate Management Amendment Act. Under the legislation this money was not to be paid out to trustees or the minor owners without the consent of a judge of the Native Land Court. Judges could direct that money be paid out to help maintain, educate, advance or otherwise bring some benefit to the children concerned. ll3 In March 1895 some of the Maori trustees suggested that if the money (£15) was paid directly to them then the Crown might find it easier to complete the purchase of the block.114 Crown officials, however, stated that the law required that the money be paid to the Public Trustee and that the Minister could not change thisYs

The Crown was open to the possibility of acquiring the entire block when it embarked upon the purchase of individual interests in Whirinaki. The deed records that the Crown paid the vendors £4725 for the total area of 31,500 acres. However, Maori Land Court records and the AJHR 1896 show that the Crown acquired the lesser area of 21,499 acres for £3239 18s 10d.116 It is likely that the Crown official who drew up the deed inserted figures corresponding to the entire block because the Crown was unaware how many owners wished to sell but was willing to purchase all interests in the land. It is not known why the figures on the deed were not amended when the partial purchase of the block was concluded.

Records reviewed for this report do not specifically mention why the Crown was so interested in acquiring Whirinaki at this time, aside from settling the outstanding survey liens. The blocks acquired were mountainous and forested lands. It is possible that the timber on the blocks was an attraction. At Galatea in 1894, Harehare Atarea had suggested to Premier Seddon that if the Crown widened the roads on Ngati Manawa's lands it could 'tap the huge totara-forests. The timber trade would be developed .,. This would tend to benefit, not only ourselves, but everybody'. Harehare also stated that he wished to sell 'land over these ranges' to the Government: a possible reference to the timbered Whirinaki landsy7 Government

112 Deed 1952 (Wai 212 C3A voLl F.I-F.I0) 113 Section 3, Maori Real Estate Management Act 1888 Amendment Act 1893 114 Te Wharehuia Heta & others of Ngati Manawa, Galatea, to the Public Trustee, 20 March 1895, MA-MLP 11897/200, NA, Wellington 115 Sheridan to Gill, 7 November 1895, MA-MLP 11897/200, NA, Wellington 116 AJHR, 1896, G-3, pp.2-3 117 AJHR, 1895, G-l, p.65

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records reviewed for this report do not indicate whether the timber on the blocks was a particular attraction for the Crown at this time.

Another motive for Crown purchasing in this area at this time may have been a wish to limit Tuhoe influence over land on the edge of the Urewera. During the 1890s Tuhoe had continued to resist the intrusion of Crown mechanisms of government into their rohe. In 1895, Tuhoe and the Crown embarked upon serious negotiations to resolve issues concerning the governance of Urewera lands. These negotiations resulted in the creation of the Urewera District Native Reserve in 1896.118 The Reserve encompassed the bulk of Tuhoe land, but omitted some blocks such as Whirinaki, in which Tuhoe had claimed an interest. Although in 1894 Harehare Atarea had already stated his opposition to the inclusion of any of his lands (such as Whirinaki 2) in the Tuhoe territorial boundary, the Crown may have viewed the purchase of Whirinaki land in 1895 as a means of limiting the size of the Reserve. 119

This is, however, purely speculation. The research carried out for this report did not find any direct suggestions that this was the motive for the Crown's purchase of individual interests in Whirinaki in 1895.

While the Crown was in the process of acquiring individual shares in Whirinaki, Albert Warbrick and eight others with interests in the block asked that Ponaua, an area in the east of the block on the Galatea-Te Whaiti road, be set aside for them. '[We] are most reluctant', wrote Warbrick, 'to part with what was once the chief home of our ancestors' .120 Gill informed Sheridan of the Native Land Purchase Department that none of the Warbrick family had ever lived on Whirinaki and that the matter should be left for the Native Land Court to deal with when the Crown's interest was partitioned out of the block.121 Ponaua, on the eastern border of Whirinaki 2, was subsequently incorporated in land awarded to the Crown: Whirinaki 2 . 2122 sectlOn .

The Maori non-sellers retained a total of just 10,349 acres of the Whirinaki block in four subdivisions (see Figure 4): 33 percent of the original 31,500-acre block. Judge J.A. Wilson ordered that these subdivisions be inalienable.123 Once again, in theory this meant that the blocks were not to be sold or leased for a period of more than 21 years.

To NON-SELLERS

Block Acres Number of owners % of original title holders Whirinaki 1 section 2 330 61 44% Whirinaki 1 section 4 7,221 61 44% Whirinaki 2 section 1 400 141 95% Whirinaki 2 section 3 2,050 49 33% Total 10,349

118 Miles, pp.270-284 119 AJHR, 1895, G-1, p.65 120 Albert Warbrick & others, to the Minister for Native Affairs, 29 April 1895, MA-MLP 1 1897/200, NA, Wellington 121 Note on file cover page, Gill to Sheridan, 5 August 1895, MA-MLP 1 1897/200, NA, Wellington 122 ML 5422/3, LINZ, Hamilton 123 Court Orders, 5 December 1895, Waiariki MLC Block Order Files

Figure 4: 1895 Whirinaki partitions

A. Whirinaki 1 sec.1 (10,111 acres) B. Whirinaki 1 sec.2 (330 acres) C. Whirinaki 1 sec.3 (1,238 acres) D. Whirinaki 1 Sec A (7,221 acres)

E. Whirinaki 2 sec.1 (400 acres) F. Whirinaki 2 sec.2 (9,802 acres) G. Whirinaki 2 sec.3 (2,050 acres) H. Whirinaki 2 secA (348 acres)

Source: Based on ML 5422, LINZ, Hamilton

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Whirinaki 2 section 1 (400 acres) was reserved from sale early on in the purchase process as Ngati Manawa were living on this part of the block. 124 During the purchase period Harehare Atarea of Ngati Manawa visited Wellington. He suggested to James Carroll, the Minister for Native Affairs, that the 400 acres arranged to be set­aside for Ngati Manawa be increased to 1000 acres. Harehare indicated that this would facilitate the Crown's purchase of the rest of the land. 125 When the request was brought to the attention of Patrick Sheridan of the Native Land Purchase Department, Sheridan suggested that the amount of land to be retained by Ngati Manawa was in their own hands. To increase the area retained, the tribe had simply to ensure that fewer shares in the block were sold to the Crown. He instructed land purchase officer Gill to give Ngati Manawa 'every facility for making what reserves they desire ... as long as they do not pick the eyes out of the block' .126 As shown in the table above, the Court awarded Ngati Manawa 2050 acres (Whirinaki 2 section 3) in addition to the 400 acres originally reserved from sale. While all the original owners were included in the title of the 400-acre subdivision, Whirinaki 2 section 1, only 49 people were included in the list of owners of Whirinaki 2 section 3.127

4.4 1899 Crown acquisition of 351 acres

Although the 1895 alienations lifted the original survey debts from the Whirinaki blocks, new surveys were required to define the borders of the new Crown and Maori­owned subdivisions. Henry Mitchell carried out a survey of the subdivided block in 1896.128 On 29 July 1897, Patrick Sheridan of the Native Land Purchase Office informed the surveyor general that the Maori-owned blocks should be charged 'with a reasonable proportion of the partition surveys' .129 The blocks incurred liens as follows: 130

Block Acres 1896 Liens (£.s.d) Whirinaki 1 section 2 330 £1.13.06 Whirinaki 1 section 4 7221 £36.13.07 Whirinaki 2 section 1 400 £2.00.08 Whirinaki 2 section 3 2050 £10.08.02 Total 10,349 £50:15:11

124 Note, RJ Gill, Land Purchase Officer, to P Sheridan, Native Land Purchase Department, 19 January 1895, MA-MLP 11897/200, NA, Wellington 125 Harehare Atarea to J Carroll, Native Minister, 3 November 1895; J Carroll to Sheridan, 12 November 1895, MA-MLP 1 1897/200, NA, Wellington 126 Note on file cover, Sheridan to Gill, 17? November 1895, MA-MLP 1 1897/200, NA, Wellington 127 Note, Gill to Sheridan, 21 January 1896, MA-MLP 11897/200, NA Wellington 128 ML 5422/3, LINZ, Hamilton 129 P Sheridan, Native Land Purchase Office, 29 July 1897, Waiariki MLC Closed Correspondence 259 130 Court Orders, 15 & 16 May 1899, Waiariki MLC BOF 2449A (4A); BOF 2456A (3A); Gill to Sheridan, June 1899, MA-MLP 11904/57, NA, Wellington

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The survey charges amounted to approximately 1 penny per acre. Interest was charged on the liens from 15 June 1897 under the Native Land Court Act 1894 at the rate of 5 percent per annum, for a maximum period of five years. 131

The surveys of the new Whirinaki subdivisions prompted protest from one Maori owner, Hohepa Poia. Hohepa had interests in the north of Whirinaki 2. He raised two issues: first, he claimed that there was no good land near his residence fit for planting food; and second, he believed that the neighbouring Maori owners of Whirinaki 1 section 2 (330 acres) had been given more land than they were entitled to. To remedy the first issue, Hohepa asked the Crown to give him 20 acres of land on the border of Whirinaki 1 and 2 in exchange for his shares in another block. Hohepa's letter implied that he had cultivated and improved the 20 acres concerned but this area had fallen outside boundaries drawn by the surveyor.132 Hohepa did not receive a sympathetic hearing and his requests were not acted upon. Richard Gill informed Sheridan that the Maori non-sellers had been able to choose the areas they wished to retain and that this land was 'fairly good all round'. He considered Hohepa an 'obstructionist from the early commencement of buying the block' .133 With regard to the second issue raised by Hohepa, JW Browne of the Native Land Court informed Sheridan that the areas of the subdivision 'correspond exactly with the awards of the Court.134 An undated note on the file cover containing Hohepa's letter suggested that his complaints had arisen out of 'family jealousy' .135

In 1899, the Crown acquired additional Whirinaki lands in lieu of the 1896 survey costs (see Figure 5). As happened in 1895, the Crown acquired the land at the rate of h h 'll' 136 tree s 1 mgs per acre.

To Crown Block Acres Survey liens (£.s.d)

Whirinaki 1 section 4A 281 £36.13.07 Plus lien for 1 s.2: £1.13.06

interest: £3.16.08 Whirinaki 2 section 3A 70 £10.08.02 Total """ 351 " £52.11.11

To Maori Owners Block Acres Number of owners

Whirinaki 1 section 4B 6940 63 Whirinaki 2 section 3B 1980 47

Total

131 Gill to Sheridan, June 1899, MA-MLP 1 1904/57, NA, Wellington. Section 66, Native Land Court Act 1894. 132 Hohepa Poia, Galatea, to Minister for Crown Lands, 12 August 1897, MA-MLP 1 1897/200, NA, Wellington 133 Gill to Sheridan, 20 October 1897, MA-MLP 1 1897/200, NA, Wellington 134 Browne to Sheridan, 2 November 1897, MA-MLP 1 1897/200, NA, Wellington 135 Note on file cover, author illegible, no date, MA-MLP 1 1897/200, NA, Wellington 136 Court Orders, 15 & 16 May 1899, Waiariki MLC BOP 2449A (4A); BOP 2456A (3A)

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Figure 5: 1899 Whirinaki partitions

White areas: land acquired by Crown 1895 and 1899 Shaded areas: land retained by Maori 1899

Maori blocks 1 section 2: 1 section 4B: 2 section 1: 2 section 3 B:

330 acres 6940 acreS 400 acreS 1980 acreS

lsAA (281 acres)

Crown land

Source: Based on ML 5422, LINZ, Hamilton

Maori land 1s.2, 2s.1, 2s.3B

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The Crown's acqUIsItIOn of Whirinaki 1 section 4A and Whirinaki 2 section 3A relieved the parent blocks of the 1896 liens. The lien on Whirinaki 1 section 2 was also relieved through the Crown's acquisition of Whirinaki 1 section 4A. The owners of Whirinaki 1 sections 2 and 4 were the same people and they wished to relieve both liens while retaining all their interests in Whirinaki 1 section 2 (330 acres) y7 It was agreed that the Maori owners would not be charged further survey costs for the subdivisions of Whirinaki 1 section 4 and Whirinaki 2 section 3Ys

Once again, the Court ordered that the blocks awarded to the non-sellers be inalienable.139 As a result of the taking of land in lieu of the liens, the Whirinaki owners now held just 9650 acres out of the original 31,500-acre Whirinaki block (31 percent). However, it should be acknowledged here that Whirinaki 1 section 4A was returned to the Maori ownership in 1981 as part of the WhirinakilMotumako land settlement package. This block is now part of the Ngahuinga block owned by Ngati Manawa. See Chapter V for details of this settlement.

4.5 Conclusion: Issues Arising

The Crown's actions with regard to the Whirinaki blocks following the 1890 title investigation and 1893 rehearing give rise to a number of issues that may have Treaty implications. These include:

The taking of land in lieu of survey costs The exposure of Maori non-sellers to new survey costs The purchase of individual interests in communal land The scope of alienations during the 1890s

• The adequacy of the Crown's protective mechanisms Crown advantages in the purchase process

A number of these issues are the same as those discussed in the Waitangi Tribunal commissioned 'Heruiwi 1-4' report. 140 The analysis below repeats some of the Heruiwi conclusions where these are relevant. Readers are advised to read this report on Whirinaki together with the Heruiwi report as the two blocks lie alongside each other, were both awarded primarily to Ngati Apa (Ngati Hineuru) and Ngati Manawa, and have similar nineteenth century alienation histories.

4.5.1 The taking af land in lieu af survey casts

The Crown acquired 69 percent of the original Whirinaki block during the 1890s (21,850 acres out of 31,500 acres). It acquired approximately 15 percent (4861 acres) through the mechanism of taking land in lieu of outstanding survey debts on the land:

137 Gill to Sheridan, June 1899, MA-MLP 1 1904/57, NA, Wellington 138 Rotorua Native Land Court minute book 42,6 & 15 May 1899, fols 174-175 &189-193, copy in LINZ 6900173, vol.III 139 Court Orders, 16 May 1899, Waiariki MLC BOF 2449A (1/4B); BOF 2456A (2/3B) 140 Tulloch, 'Heruiwi Blocks 1-4', pp.65-83

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£.s.d. Acres acquired at Percentage of 3 s.!acre 31,500 block

Survey liens: 1895 £665.17.06 approx. 4,439 14.09% Survey liens: 1899 £52.11.11 351 1.11% Total liens, area ... ( £718.09.05. 4,7.90 15.20% 1895 purchase money £2,555.18.06 approx.17,060 54.16% Tot~lcost,. area~cquited '1.·£3;274.07.11 21,850, .'. .<,; 69.39%

Surveys of Maori land were to some extent an unavoidable expense. Boundaries between the lands of various Maori claimant groups had to be clearly established in order to give certainty of title. Obtaining a secure title enabled owners to enter into negotiations with other parties to gain some return from the land through leasing, selling or mortgaging the land to raise capital for its development. However, obtaining a secure title to land could come at a considerable cost to Maori. As mentioned above, hearings held over several weeks at locations well away from claimants' home could result in heavy accommodation and supply expenses. Survey costs imposed an additional financial burden on Maori. Survey fees for the Whirinaki block effectively cost the Maori grantees 15 percent (4790 acres) of the original 31,500 acre Whirinaki block. Given that purchasers of Maori land also benefited from the secure titles obtained through the Native Land Court, it might be asked whether they should have shouldered at least part of the burden of the survey costs. The Crown benefited from the court processes that resulted in the awarding of secure titles to Whirinaki 1 and 2. It could be argued that it should have carried a proportion of the original liens on the blocks. Whether or not the loss of 15 percent of the Whirinaki block as a direct result of survey costs constituted a reasonable cost for the Maori grantees is a question for the Tribunal to consider in light of the Crown's obligations to Maori under the Treaty of Waitangi.

4.5.2 The exposure of Maori non-sellers to new survey costs

The Crown's acquisition of a major portion of the Whirinaki 1 and 2 blocks in 1895, through the taking of land in lieu of liens and through the purchase of individual interests, resulted in new survey costs being imposed upon the non-selling Whirinaki owners. Following the subdivision of the blocks in 1895, new surveys were carried out in order to produce valid titles for the new subdivisions. The Native Land Purchase Office directed that the non-sellers be charged 'a reasonable proportion' of the survey costs. l4l A record of the full amount of the survey charge was not located in research for this report. However, the non-sellers' share of the lien came to approximately one penny per acre. Although this might seem a low charge, it is questionable whether Maori who had declined to sell interests in land should have been charged at all for surveys resulting from the actions of the Crown and the selling grantees. The new surveys effectively cost the non-sellers (in Whirinaki 1 sections 2 and 4, and Whirinaki 2 section 3) the 351 acres of land awarded to the Crown in lieu of the subdivisional survey liens in 1899.

141 P Sheridan, Native Land Purchase Office, 29 July 1897, Waiariki MLC Closed Correspondence 259

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It is not entirely clear how the Court determined which parts of the Whirinaki block should be awarded to the Crown and which parts to the Maori grantees in 1895 and 1899. However, the awards appear to have been based on negotiations between the Maori grantees and the Crown. As noted above, in 1895, Sheridan of the Land Purchase Department instructed land purchase officer Gill to give the grantees 'every facility for making what reserves they desire '" as long as they do not pick the eyes out of the block' .142 Gill stated in 1899 that the non-sellers had been able to choose the areas they wished to retain.143 The areas awarded to the Crown included the more rugged and timbered central and south-east parts of the block as well as an area of flat land in the north-west. The non-selling grantees retained the flatter land in the north­east and south-west of the block, including 400 acres of land in the north-east where Ngati Manawa lived. One non-seller, Hohepa Poia, expressed dissatisfaction in 1897 with the Court's awards, suggesting that he had lost 20 acres of land that he had previously cultivated. The Warbrick family, who expressed a wish to retain Ponaua on the eastern boundary of Whirinaki 2, may also have been dissatisfied with the awards of the Native Land Court as this part of the block was awarded to the Crown in 1899. No other complaints or potential complaints about the Court's division of the Whirinaki block were uncovered during the course of research for this report.

4.5.3 The purchase of individual interests in communal land

The Crown acquired 54 percent of the 31,500 Whirinaki block through the purchase of individual interests in communally owned land. The purchase of individual interests and the subsequent partitioning out of the Crown's interests were very effective means of acquiring Maori land. As Robyn Anderson has argued in her work on the Hauraki tribes, while these practices were legal, they were 'designed to undermine the ability of Maori to hold their land collectively, under tribal mana' .144

The purchase of individual interests and the partitioning out of sellers' interests had severe implications for Maori communities. Treating the title-holders as absolute owners, whose individual interests could be purchased on a piecemeal basis, undermined traditional social structures, could foster divisions within communities and made it difficult for Maori leaders to embark on planned and sustained development of tribal land.145

No evidence of any disputes between the selling and non-selling Whirinaki grantees was found in the course of research for this report. The major implication of the purchase of individual interests in the Whirinaki blocks is its contribution to the extensive whittling away of Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa's tribal lands during the 1890s. As noted earlier in this chapter, Harehare Atarea suggested to the Native Minister in 1895 that the 400 acres arranged to be set-aside for Ngati Manawa in Whirinaki 2 be increased to 1000 acres. Patrick Sheridan of the Native Land Purchase Office pointed out that this could be achieved if the Maori vendors sold fewer shares to the Crown. However, Harehare Atarea may not have been able to

142 Note on file cover, Sheridan to Gill, 17? November 1895, MA-MLP 11897/200, NA, Wellington 143 Gill to Sheridan, 20 October 1897, MA-MLP 11897/200, NA, Wellington 144 Anderson, The Crown, the Treaty and the Hauraki Tribes, 1800-1885, volA, p.204 145 David Alexander, 'Statement of Evidence for the Hauraki Claims: The Operation of the Native Land Court in Hauraki' (Wai 100, #E3; Wai 686, #E3), pp.37-40; Alan Ward, An Unsettled History: Treaty Claims in New Zealand Today, Bridget Williams Books, Wellington, 1999, p.140

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exert sufficient control over his fellow grantees to limit sales in this way. It is possible that he approached the Minister because he needed the Crown's assistance to ensure that it did not purchase the extra shares in the land. Sheridan's willingness to leave the extent of alienation in the hands of individual Maori grantees may be interpreted as a recognition of individual Maori grantees' autonomy over their land. However, the recognition of individuals' rights to sell came at the cost of tribal control over land and greatly facilitated the alienation of Maori land. In the case of Whirinaki 2, Ngati Manawa retained two blocks of land when the Crown ceased its purchase of individual interests in the block in 1895: a block of 400 acres owned by all the original grantees (141 people) and a block of 2050 acres owned by 49 grantees. It seems likely that the 400-acre block held in the name of all the original grantees was the one that Harehare wished to expand to 1000 acres. This would suggest that without the Crown's assistance, through a voluntary cessation of purchasing once the 1000-acre limit had been reached, Harehare was unable to prevent sufficient of his fellow grantees from selling their interests in the block to increase the proposed area to be retained from 400 to 1000 acres.

Alan Ward has argued that the system of individualization of titles imposed on Maori by the Crown 'facilitated neither corporate group enterprise nor development of the land by individuals'. He argues further that the provision for easy acquisition of individual interests and the lack of protections for Maori built into the land sale process 'would appear to infringe the Crown's undertaking in the Preamble of the Treaty to protect the 'just rights and property of Maori', and the Article 2 guarantee to chiefs, tribes and people of the tino rangatiratanga of their land' .146 The Crown's acquisition of 54 percent of the original Whirinaki block through its purchase of individual interests in the land needs to be considered in the light of this strong critique of the land sale process.

4.5.4 The scope of alienations during the 1890s

The scope of Crown purchasing in the Whirinaki lands during the 1890s is also a matter for concern. By 1900, the Crown had acquired 69 percent of the Whirinaki lands awarded to the Maori grantees in 1890. At the same time, the Crown purchased large areas of the Ngati Manawa and Ngati Apa owners' other lands, such as the Heruiwi block to the south (92 percent). The following analysis of the scope of the 1890s alienations reproduces some material contained in the 'Heruiwi 1-4' report as the analysis in that report is equally applicable to the Whirinaki case.147

The Crown's acquisition of over half of the Whirinaki block by 1900, together with its acquisition of most of the Heruiwi lands, provides an example of how the Liberal government's 1890s policy of acquiring Maori land for European settlement resulted in an extensive whittling away of Maori tribal lands during that decade. In 1891, Maori-owned approximately 10.8 million acres of land in the North Island. The Liberal government considered this to be far in excess of Maori needs. 148 Between 1891 and 1900, the Crown acquired 2.7 million acres of this land, including 21,850

146 Ward, Unsettled History, pp.140-141 147 Tulloch, 'Heruiwi Blocks 1-4', pp.78-79 148 Ward, Overview, vo1.2, p.245

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acres of Whirinaki.149 The Liberal land grab followed the 1891 Commission of Inquiry into the Native Land Laws. The three commissioners, WL Rees, Thomas Mackay and James Carroll, agreed that Maori land should be made available for settlement. They proposed 'to render available for settlement an area of land greater in extent than some kingdoms and independent States' .150 However, they also advised that, 'reserves should be made on an extensive scale' .151 Carroll, who dissented from some recommendations in the report, noted that Maori 'fully recognize that it would be wise for them to dispose of such areas of their surplus lands to obtain the necessary funds for clearing, fencing, and stocking the land retained for their own profitable occupation. ,152 He nevertheless warned that contrary to popular belief, the Maori population was no longer decreasing and in some areas 'a steady increase is perceptible' .153 Although an increase in the Maori population did not show up in the census until 1896, the government should have been aware at the start of the decade that this state of affairs was a distinct possibility.1S4 John Bryce, Minister of Native Affairs in the early 1880s, had suggested in 1882 that the Maori population had ceased to decline and might soon increase. 155 Given these warnings, and the need for Maori to retain sufficient land on which to support themselves, the Crown's readiness to acquire such a large proportion of the Whirinaki lands during the 1890s, as well as a significant proportion of the owners' other lands, is questionable.

Carroll suggested in 1891 that Maori might benefit from the sale of their surplus lands by obtaining finance to develop their more valuable lands. This does not appear to have been the experience of the Whirinaki grantees. Tom Brooking has argued that the Liberal land grab of the 1890s 'ensured that most first class land had passed from Maori hands by 1900' .156 He suggests that, 'the purchase of so much land, so quickly, for so little money, was catastrophic for the development of sustainable Maori farming' .157 The Ngati Manawa grantees do not appear to have obtained significant benefits from the alienation of their Rangitaiki lands during the 1890s. The 1890s were difficult years for the grantees. In addition to the earlier suffering caused by the inconvenience of attending Court hearings held away from their homes, Galatea Maori suffered the effects of two major natural disasters in 1886 and in the early 1890s. In 1886, the Tarawera eruption devastated much of Ngati Manawa's land. The following year the teacher at the Fort Galatea School asked the Education Department to provided food for starving children. In mid-1892 and early 1893 severe flooding in the Whakatane and Rangitaiki districts caused great suffering amongst Maori living on the banks of the Rangitaiki. Harehare Atarea informed the Native Minister in 1893 that he wished to sell land (Heruiwi 4) in order to buy food as 'the people are in great distress for want of food, owing to the floods' .158 In 1899, the Inspector of Native Schools reported that, 'Widespread famine' had forced the

149 Tom Brooking, '''Busting Up" the Greatest Estate of All', NZJH, 26:1, April 1992, p.78 150 AJHR, 1891, sess 2, G-1, p.xix 151 Ibid, p.xviii 152 Ibid, p.xxviii 153 Ibid, p.xxix 154 Ward, Unsettled History, p.153 155 J. Bryce, NZPD, 1882, vo1.42, p.652, cited in Ward, Overview, vol.2, p.270 156 Brooking, p.78 157 Ibid, p.97 158 Translated letter, Harehare to The Minister for Native Affairs, 7 March 1893, MA-MLP 1 1904/57, NA Wellington (Wai 212 #E6e:1, pp.93-94)

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closure of the Galatea school for three months in the spring.159 Gwenda and C Maanu Paul's report on Kaingaroa 1 describes a cycle of poverty and dependence experienced by Ngati Manawa from the 1880s.160 The alienation by 1900 of 69 percent of the Whirinaki lands held in 1890, together with the sales of other lands held by the grantees, does not appear to brought them any lasting benefits.

4.5.5 Crown advantages in the purchase process

The Crown enjoyed the advantage of pre-emption in the purchase of Maori lands through much of the 1890s. The Native Land Laws Commission had recommended this course of action, although James Carroll had advised against this in a dissenting opinion attached to the report. 161 The Native Land Purchases Act 1892 introduced partial pre-emption in that the Crown could bar private purchasers from negotiating with Maori in an area gazetted for sale to the Crown for a period of two years. 162 In 1894, the Crown introduced full pre-emption under the Native Land Court Act of that year. 163 Full pre-emption was eroded in 1895 under the Native Land Laws Amendment Act which exempted land under 500 acres inside town districts or boroughs.164 However, the Crown's pre-emptive powers were applicable to the Whirinaki blocks alienated after 1894. One argument behind the reintroduction of the Crown's pre-emptive powers was that this was 'the only cast-iron safeguard against fraudulent dealings in native land' .165 The Maori members of Parliament were not convinced and argued that this course was unconstitutional and in breach of the Treaty of Waitangi.166 David Williams suggests that Crown pre-emption served Crown interests rather than those of Maori:

Given the nature of Crown purchasing policies, it is evident that the use of Crown pre-emption in the post-1870 period was not intended as a protection of Maori interests. Rather, pre-emption was used as a protection of Crown interests in purchasing vis-a-vis private purchasers in competition for some of the more fertile land blocks. [. .. ] If Crown purchasing was to meet the objective of acquiring all interests in certain blocks or districts from Maori, then the Government was ready to resort to legislation enabling a restoration of Crown

I h · . h 167 monopo y purc asmg fIg ts.

Under pre-emption, if Maori wished to sell their lands they had little choice but to sell to the Crown at the Crown's prices. Tom Brooking has argued that, 'pre-emption ensured that Maori land could be bought for a low price' .168 The Crown paid an average price of 6s 4d per acre for Maori land acquired between 1891 and 1911.169

The Whirinaki vendors who sold their interests to the Crown in 1895 received three

159 AJHR, 1899, E-2, p.7 160 Paul & Paul, Chapter 7 161 AJHR, 1891, sess 2, G-l, pp.xxiii, xxvii 162 Section 16, Native Land Purchases Act 1892 163 Section 117, Native Land Court Act 1894 164 Brooking, p.86 165 Ibid, p.86 166 Ibid, p.86 167 Williams, pp.219-220 168 Brooking, p.87 169 Brooking, p.78

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shillings per acre for their interests. The Crown acquired Whirinaki land in lieu of outstanding survey liens in 1895 and 1899 at the same rate.

It is difficult to judge whether the Whirinaki grantees received a fair price for their interests in the Whirinaki blocks. Prices paid for Maori land depended on land quality based on its cultivability, improvements, and mineral and timber resources. The bulk of the Whirinaki land acquired by the Crown consisted of hill country ranging from around 400 to 700 metres in height. Without a broader examination of market prices for similar lands, firm conclusions cannot be drawn regarding the prices paid to the Whirinaki vendors. Prices paid for the Heruiwi lands to the south during the 1890s ranged from 2 shillings 1 112 pence per acre to 4 shillings and 10 pence per acre.170 It is perhaps sufficient to state that the Crown's monopoly purchase powers in this period militated against the payment of market prices to Maori vendors. Furthermore, the prices paid to the Whirinaki grantees fell well below the average price of 6s 4d per acre paid for Maori land in this period.

4.5.6 The adequacy of the Crown's protective mechanisms

Maori land legislation of the nineteenth century contained a number of mechanisms intended to protect Maori from exploitation and prevent them from becoming landless. These included the Crown's right of pre-emption, the employment of trust commissioners and the placing of restrictions on Maori land. These protective mechanisms have been criticized by a number of researchers as inadequate or ineffective. l7l The Crown' right of pre-emption may have protected Maori from land sharks but, as noted above, it also prevented Maori from obtaining market prices for land. The trust commissioners were employed in the 1870s and 1880s to scrutinise transactions involving Maori land. Their duties involved ensuring Maori were paid a fair price for their land and that they retained sufficient lands on which to support themseivesY2 However, the trust commissioner system was flawed and this protective mechanism was removed altogether from Crown purchasing under section 8 of the Native Lands Frauds Prevention Act 1881 Amendment 1888.

One of the duties of the trust commissioners had been to ensure that Maori vendors retained a sufficiency of other lands. The legislation in place during the 1890s regarding Crown purchases does not appear to have required that inquiries be made into the vendors' other lands. Under section 53(2) of the Native Land Court Act 1894 (under which the bulk of Whirinaki was alienated in 1895 and 1899) the Court was required to ensure that Maori vendors retained sufficient lands for their support. However, section 76 appears to have exempted Crown purchases or acquisitions from this provision:

170 Tulloch, 'Heruiwi Blocks 1-4', pp.80-81 171 Williams, pp.209-225; Ward, Unsettled History, pp.137, 153; Jenny Murray, Crown Policy on Maori Reserved Lands, 1840 to 1865, and Lands Restricted/rom Alienation, 1865 to 1900, Waitangi Tribunal Rangahaua Whanui Series (working paper: first release), Wellington, February 1997, pp.34-35, 104; Brooking, pp.83-84 172 David Alexander, 'Appendix III: The Activities of the Trust Commissioner', in R Anderson, The Crown, the Treaty and the Hauraki Tribes, 1800-1885, Volume 4, Hauraki Maori Trust Board, Paeroa, 1997 (Wai 100, A6; Wai 406, C15), p.329; Murray, pp.34-35.

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Nothing in this Act contained shall limit or affect the power of the Crown to purchase or acquire any estate, share, right, or interest in any land or Native land, nor the power of any Native to cede, sell, or transfer any such estate share, rights, or interest to the Crown, and when the Crown claims to be interested under any deed, contract, or other document, the same shall, on production, be admitted as evidence, and have due effect given thereto, notwithstanding any law in force to the contrary. 173

Research carried out for this report and for the 'Heruiwi 1-4' report failed to find any evidence that the Crown inquired into the extent of other lands held by the Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa grantees in these lands before it acquired significant areas of the blocks. Without examining the full extent of the other lands held by the title-holders during the 1890s, it is difficult to state conclusively whether the Whirinaki grantees held other lands on which they could support themselves. It is clear that they were divesting themselves of very large areas of land during this decade. The Crown's failure to have inquiries made into the Whirinaki grantees' landholdings suggests it may have breached its duty of active protection to Maori.

Placing restrictions on Maori land titles was another flawed protective mechanism. The practice was intended to delay rather than prevent the alienation of Maori land but it did not always achieve even this purpose to any great extent. 174 The Native Land Court placed restrictions on the titles of the parent Whirinaki blocks in 1890 and 1893 and on the subdivided blocks retained by the Maori grantees in 1895 and 1899. As shown by the alienation of 69 percent of the Whirinaki blocks in these latter years, the court-imposed restrictions failed to delay the alienation of the bulk of the land for any significant period. The Crown acquired its first interests in Whirinaki five years after the block first passed through the court. Legislative reforms during the late 1880s and the 1890s seriously undermined the protection offered by restrictions. As noted earlier in this chapter, section 14 of the Native Land Purchases Act 1892 empowered the governor to remove or declare void restrictions on Maori land for the purposes of sale to the Crown. Section 52 of the Native Land Court Act 1894 allowed the Native Land Court to remove restrictions if one-third of the owners agreed to this. Apart from Harehare Atarea's request to increase the Ngati Manawa reserved area of 1895 from 400 to 1000 acres, no documentary evidence of opposition from the Maori grantees to the sale of interests in the land or the taking of land in lieu of the survey liens was located.

4.6 Conclusion

Maori paid a heavy price for the Crown's land settlement policies of the 1890s. The Whirinaki grantees alienated almost 70 percent of the block during this decade of aggressive Crown purchasing: 15 percent in lieu of survey liens and 54 percent through the sale of individual interests in the land. The grantees, however, do not appear to have obtained any significant benefits as a result of these alienations. The alienation of the bulk of the 31,500-acre parent block during the 1890s took place within a context of heavy expenses for Maori, many incurred as a result of participating in the Native Land Court system. Crown purchase systems also

173 Section 76, Native Land Court Act 1894 174 Williams, p.215

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contained few effective protections for Maori landowners. In particular, in its rush to acquire Maori land during the 1890s, the Crown failed to assess whether the Whirinaki grantees had retained sufficient other lands on which to support themselves and their descendents in the future. This is of particular concern given that the Ngati Manawa and Ngati Apa grantees were also divesting themselves of large areas of their other lands in this period.

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Figure 6: Whirinaki 1 section 4B blocks (1971)

Whirinaki 1 s. 4A Whirinakil s. 4B1A Whirinaki 1 s. 4B1B

281 acres 1533 acres 1749 acres

* Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 blocks A-G 4B2A 186 acres 4B2B 721 acres 4B2C 170 acres 4B2D 597 acres 4B2E 186 acres 4B2F 884 acres 4B2G 674 acres

Kaingaroa State Forest

State Forest 58

Source: Based on plan in MA 5/5/101, National Archives, Wellington

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Chapter V

Crown acquisition of Whirinaki lands from 1900

5.1 Summary of Crown acquisitions

Between 1914 and 1967 the Crown acquired interests in a number of subdivided Whirinaki 1 section 4B blocks in the south-west of the parent Whirinaki block. The subdivided blocks lay between two large areas of Crown land: the Kaingaroa state forest to the west and State Forest 58 to the east (formerly Whirinaki 1 section 1 and Whirinaki 2 section 2). (See Figure 6)

Whirinaki 1 section 4B had been subdivided among its Maori owners in 1902, 1913 and 1920 as follows:

Y~ar 1902

1913

1920

... J31ock Ar~a (a.r.p.)JJ:> Number of owners 4B1 3283.2.00 22 4B2 3656.2.00 41

4B1A 1533.3.33 11 , ...................................

4B1B 4B2A 4B2B 4B2C ..................................................... , ......... . 4B2D 4B2E

1749.2.07 14 186.0.16 1 721.0.16 11 170.2.32 2 597.0.16 11 ........... . ........... , ..... ~ ........ " . ............ .. ........... . ............................ . 186.0.16 1 ......................... ", ............................................................................................................. .

4B2F 884.0.16 11 ....... ............................................................................ , ,,, ................. , ............................. , ..................... , ..... ..

4B2G 674.0.32 19

The Crown acquired all interests in three blocks (Whirinaki 1 sections 4B1A in 1914, 4B2C in 1965 and 4B2E in 1966) and some undivided interests in Whirinaki 1 section 4B1B (late 1920s) and Whirinaki 1 sections 4B2A, 4B2B, 4B2D, 4B2F and 4B2G (1960s).

In 1964 the non-selling Maori owners in Whirinaki 1 section 4B1B exchanged their interests in the block for ownership of Waiohau B9 (202 acres) and Paeroa East 4B1B1 (4 acres). The Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 blocks were returned to full Maori ownership in 1981. The Crown returned the interests it had acquired in these blocks, including 4B2C and 4B2E, to the non-selling Ngati Manawa owners as part of the settlement of a long-standing grievance over the Motumako reserve in Kaingaroa 1. The 4B2 blocks were amalgamated and are now known as the Ngahuinga block. Ngati Manawa have retained this block.

175 The areas of the section 4B2 blocks were amended in 1965 (Rotorua Native Land Court minute book 130, fol 186) and these amended areas are shown here. The areas recorded in 1920 were larger and were calculated from existing plans. The 4B2 subdivisions remained unsurveyed for several decades following the 1920 partition.

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The Crown thus acquired permanent ownership of an additional 3281 acres of the Whirinaki blocks during the twentieth century:

Block Area (a.r.p.) Acquired by Crown Whirinaki 1 sec. 4B1A 1533.3.33 1914 Whirinaki 1 sec. 4B1B 1749.2.07 1920-1964 Total acreage 3281.2~OO .

5.2 Whirinaki 1 section 4BIA and 4BIB: Crown purchasing 1914-1929

The Crown's first expression of interest in the Whirinaki blocks during the twentieth century was its 1911 offer to purchase Whirinaki 1 section 2, comprising of 330 acres of flat land in the north-west comer of the original Whirinaki block. The Crown wished to acquire additional land for European settlement. However, the owners declined the Crown's offer to purchase the land at an assembled owners meeting on the grounds that the land contained the Rangitahi Pa and the owners' cultivations.176

The failure of the Crown's offer to purchase Whirinaki 1 section 2 marked the end of its pursuit of the flat lands in the north of the parent block.

5.2.1 Whirinaki 1 section 4B1A: alienation 1914

The Crown was also interested in the Maori-owned lands in the south-west of Whirinaki 1: the more rugged and timbered Whirinaki 1 section 4B blocks. In 1910 Mr WH Bird, whose wife's family owned shares in the land, informed Apirana Ngata that these owners wished to sell their interests in the 4B blocks in order to raise capital to develop their other lands ('about 1810 acres in the Hikurangi Horomanga blocks,).177 The following year the Crown offered to purchase Whirinaki 1 section 4B1 at the block's capital value.178 An assembled owners' meeting held in 1911 rejected the Crown's offer but owners representing 59 of 132 total shares (1467 acres) expressed interest in selling their shares for 15 shillings per acre.179 The Native Department Under-Secretary informed Mr Bird that those owners who wished to sell their interests would need to have these cut out of the block before the Crown could consider their offer to sell.180 In 1913 the Native Land Court partitioned the block between those owners who wished to sell to the Crown and those who did not:

• Whirinaki 1 section 4B1A: 1533 acres 3 roods 33 perches To sellers • Whirinaki 1 section 4B1B: 1749 acres 2 roods 7 perches To non-sellers

176 Correspondence, minutes of meeting of assembled owners, 7 April 1911, BAJJ 11195 3L, NA Auckland 177 Mr Bird, Murupara, to Apirana Ngata, 7 August 1910, MA-MLP 1 19101128, NA Wellington. Arirana Ngata was a member of the Government's Executive Council at this time. 17 Crown offer to purchase land, BAJJ 11195 4c, NA Auckland 179 Minutes of meeting of assembled owners, CHECK DATE, 1911, BAJJ 11195 4c, NA Auckland 180 Under-Secretary, Native Lands, to W Bird, 24 July 1911, MA-MLP 11910/128, NA Wellington.

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Correspondence from those wishing to sell suggests that the block was partitioned between two families. 181

Two absentee owners were particularly eager to sell their interests and wrote to the Native Minister in 1913 and early in 1914 to press for action on the matter. Both correspondents explained to the Minister that they needed the capital from the sale in order to get on with farming other lands:

I have been waiting to hear when the money will be paid over .... [I] am trying to farm another piece of my land but I am handicapped for want of money to complete my boundary fence and manure for turnips & rape for winter feed. I have lost heavily this last winter through not being able to get turnips in last spring. Will you kindly hurry the matter up ... 182

I am farming in Whakatane, but am handicapped for want of capital & the proceeds of the above sale if concluded would give me just the start I require. 183

In 1914 the Valuation Department assessed Whirinaki 1 section 4B1A - the block awarded to those who wished to sell - as having a capital value of £500. The valuer described the land as follows:

being of fair quality covered with Fern and Tutu - the whole block being of pumice formation. On both sections [4BIA and 4BIB] there is some fine timber, chiefly Matai, but owing to its inaccessibility it is of no commercial value.184

The Crown purchased 4B1A in 1914 for the government valuation of £500, or approximately 6.5 shillings per acre.

The Crown acquired the land under the assembled owner provisions of the Native Land Act 1909. Under the legislation, if a block had more than 10 owners then the Crown was required to call a meeting of assembled owners to consider a resolution to sell to the Crown. Five owners were required to attend in order to reach a quorum.18S

Whirinaki 1 section 4BIA had 11 owners. Five owners (holding 31 7/9 shares out of 61 2/3 shares in the block) attended an assembled owners' meeting on 14 September 1914. The resolution to sell to the Crown for £500 was carried unanimously by the f · d' 186 lve atten mg owners.

The 1909 Act required that Maori Land Boards confirm all assembled owner resolutions to sell Maori land. 187 In order to do so, the relevant district Board had to be satisfied that the transaction was in the public interest, in the interests of the

181 Mrs Murphy, Waimangu, to Native Minister, 6 September 1913; JH Bird, Whakatane, to Native Minister, 1 February 1914, MA-MLP 1 1910/128, NA Wellington. 182 Mrs Murphy, Waimangu, to Native Minister, 6 September 1913, MA-MLP 1 19101128, NA Wellington 183 JH Bird, Whakatane, to Native Minister, 1 February 1914, MA-MLP 11910/128, NA Wellington 184 Valuer General to Under-Secretary, Native Department, 8 April 1914, MA-MLP 1 1910/128, NA Wellington 185 Sections 342 (5), 370 (1), Native Land Act 1909 186 Minutes of assembled owner meeting, 14 September 1914, BAJJ 11192 4c, NA Auckland 187 Section 348, Native Land Act 1909

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owners and that no owner would become landless 'within the meaning of this Act' .188 The Waiariki Maori Land Board confirmed the resolution to sell Whirinaki 1 section 4B1A on 14 October 1914.189 It is not clear what inquiries the Board made to ensure that the sale was in the sellers' interests or whether all sellers retained sufficient other lands. The Land Board file held at Archives New Zealand, Auckland, does not contain a list of the sellers' other landholdings.19o However, the correspondence cited above suggests that at least some members of the selling family had other lands that they intended to develop using the proceeds of the sale of Whirinaki 1 section 4B 1A. Once the district Maori Land Board had confirmed a resolution to sell to the Crown, it referred the resolution to the Native Land Purchase Board. If the Land Purchase Board adopted the resolution, as it did in the case of 4B1A, the resolution 'became a contract of purchase directly between the owners and the Crown. The process was finalized when the Crown issued a proclamation that the land had been purchased and it had become the property of the Crown.'191 Whirinaki 1 section 4B1A was duly proclaimed Crown land on 10 December 1914.192

5.2.2 Issues arising: Whirinaki 1 section 4BIA

The alienation of Whirinaki 1 section 4B1A is a relatively straightforward example of willing sellers offering land to the Crown and accepting the Crown's purchase price. The alienation appears to have been carried out correctly under the procedures outlined in the Native Land Act 1909.

5.2.3 The Crown as monopoly purchaser

The Crown was interested in purchasing additional land in the south-west of Whirinaki. In November 1914, the Chief Surveyor recommended that the Crown purchase Whirinaki 1 sections 4B1B and 4B2. 193 He had earlier informed the Under­Secretary for Lands that the Whirinaki blocks contained valuable timber and should be acquired by the Crown for 'settlement purposes' .194 In order to secure the blocks for the Crown, the Chief Surveyor recommended that proclamations be issued to prevent private parties from acquiring interests in 4B1B and 4B2. Section 363 of the Native Land Act empowered the governor to issue a proclamation prohibiting the alienation of land to any party other than the Crown for the period of one year. Proclamations could be reissued when they reached their expiry dates. In effect, this provision placed the Crown in the privileged position of monopoly purchaser. Maori landowners who wished to sell their interests were limited to selling at prices set by

188 Sections 348 and 349, Native Land Act 1909 189 Confirmation of Resolution to Sell, 14 October 1914, MA-MLP 1 1910/128, NA Wellington 190 BAJJ 11192 4c, NA Auckland 191 Tom Bennion, The Maori Land Court and Land Boards, 1909-1952, Waitangi Tribunal Rangahaua Whanui Series (working paper: first release), Wellington, July 1997, p.8; Under-Secretary, Native Land Purchase Department, to President, Waiariki Maori Land Board, 9 November 1914, MA-MLP 1 1910/128, NA Wellington 192 New Zealand Gazette, 17 December 1914 193 Chief Surveyor, to Under-Secretary for Lands, 9 November 1914, MA-MLP 1 19101128, NA Wellington 194 Under-Secretary for Lands to Under-Secretary, Native Department, 7 October 1914, MA-MLP 1 19101128, NA Wellington

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the Crown. On 21 December 1914 the governor issued proclamations prohibiting the private alienation of Whirinaki 1 sections 4BIB and 4B2.195

Whirinaki 1 section 4BIB: 1749 acres 2 roods 7 perches Whirinaki 1 section 4B2: 3656 acres 2 roods 0 perches

In January 1915 the Crown offered to purchase the two blocks. It offered the owners the government valuation of each block: £600 for 4B2 and £350 for 4BIB.196

Assembled owner meetings were called for each block under the Native Land Act 1909. The 4B2 owners considered the Crown's offer of approximately 3 shillings per acre too low for 'good land' that had carried sheep and contained millable timber. They stated that they would not take any less than the considerably higher sum of £5 per acre. 197 The 4BIB owners rejected the Crown's offer for their land on similar grounds. They considered the offer of 4 shillings per acre too low and stated that, 'Taiporutu' had offered them 15s to £1 per acre.198 The Crown declined to purchase at the prices proposed by the Maori owners.199

5.2.4 Whirinaki 1 section 4B1B: Crown purchase a/individual shares 1920s

In 1923 some of the 4BIB owners reopened sale negotiations with the Crown. The registrar of the Waiariki District Maori Land Board informed the Under-Secretary of the Native Department that the owners were 'now anxious to sell the whole block at a reasonable price'. 200 The chief surveyor advised the Under-Secretary for Lands that the block should be bought at the old government valuation of £350. He noted that while the land was of 'very poor quality' it 'could be utilised in consolidating the Crown area in that locality' .201 The Crown approached the owners through the mechanism of an assembled owners meeting but they again rejected its offer of £350, or 4 shillings per acre, for the block. The owners continued to maintain that the land was worth more than this. They noted that open country near the block had been sold 'some time ago' at 7/6- per acre and they passed a reso lu tion to sell to the Crown at 20 shillings per acre.202 Once again the Crown refused to consider purchasing the land at the owners' desired price. The Native Department Under-Secretary informed land purchase officer Goffe that the Valuation Department had noted in 1914 that the timber on the block had no commercial value due to its inaccessibility.203

195 Extracts from New Zealand Gazette, 1915, MA-MLP 11910/128, NA Wellington 196 Crown offers to purchase, 11 January 1915, MA-MLP 1 19101128, NA Wellington 197 Minutes of assembled owner meeting, Whirinaki 1 section 4B2, BAJJ 11192!7a, NA Auckland 198 Minutes of assembled owner meeting, Whirinaki 1 section 4B1B, MA-MLP 1 1910/128, NA Wellington 199 Under-Secretary, Native Department, to Waiariki District Native Land Court, 4 August 1915, MA­MLP 1 1910/128, NA Wellington 200 Registrar, Waiariki District Maori Land Board, to Under-Secretary, Native Department, 2 June 1923, MLP 1 1910/128, NA Wellington 201 Chief Surveyor to Under-Secretary for Lands, 25 June 1923, MLP 1 1910/128, NA Wellington 202 Native Land Purchase Officer to Under-Secretary, Native Department, 3 November 1923, MLP 1 1910/128, NA Wellington 203 Under-Secretary, Native Department, to WE Gaffe, Native Land Purchase Officer, Auckland, 8 November 1923, MLP 1 1910/128, NA Wellington

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In 1924 the 4B1B owners modified their position and informed a land purchase officer that they were now willing to accept 7/6- per acre for the block.204 The Native Department rejected the new offer. The owners then approached the Conservator of Forests. Owner WH Bird informed the conservator that a portion of the block contained standing millable timber and that it was in the interests of the State to acquire the block. He explained that the Crown had purchased the neighbouring Whirinaki 1 section 4B1A block for 7s 6d per acre and the owners considered 4B1B to be of similar quality.20S The conservator subsequently advised the Secretary of Forestry that there was a 'very good stand of timber on 200 acres at the southern end of the block'. The secretary noted that that this timbered area formed a wedge between two State Forests and advised the Under-Secretary of the Native Department to renew negotiations to acquire the block.206 On 2 February 1925 the Crown presented the owners with an offer to purchase interests in the block for 7s 6d per acre.207 However, the meeting of assembled owners held to consider the Crown's proposal rejected the Crown's offer. The registrar of the Waiariki District Maori Land Board reported that while the owners had previously indicated they would sell at 7s 6d per acre they now wished to sell at £1 per acre. A forestry officer who had inspected the block had given them such glowing reports of the timber that they had decided to seek a higher price.208

Native land purchase officer Goffe suggested to the Native Department Under­Secretary that individual shares in the block could probably be purchased at the rate of 7s 6d per acre.209 The State Forest Service initially expressed some concern about this proposed approach. The secretary for Forestry noted that the Service was only really interested in the forested portion of the block and had been prepared to take the open land in order to facilitate purchase of the timbered area. He warned against the possibility of acquiring interests in lands 'which may be solely open, and afterwards to find it impossible to acquire the forest except at a price far beyond its value.'210 Despite these reservations, the Forest Service eventually decided to pursue the purchase of individual interests in Whirinaki 1 section 4B1B. The prohibition against private alienation had lapsed and the secretary of Forestry commented to the Under­Secretary of the Native Department that there was 'a serious danger' that private persons could acquire individual interests in the block if the state did not.211 In March 1926 the Native Department embarked upon negotiations with the block's owners to

204 Native Land Purchase Officer to Under-Secretary, Native Department, 28 July 1924, MA-MLP 1 1910/128, NA Wellington 205 WH Bird, Murupara, to Conservator of Forests, Whaka, 18 November 1924, MA-MLP 1 1910/128, NA Wellington 206 Secretary of Forestry to Under-Secretary, Native Department, 8 January, 1925, MA-MLP 1 1910/128, NA Wellington 207 Crown offer to purchase, 2 February 1925, MA-MLP 1 1910/128, NA Wellington 208 Registrar, Waiariki District Maori Land Board, to Under-Secretary, Native Department, 21 March 1925, MA-MLP 11910/128, NA Wellington 209 Goffe, Native Land Purchase Officer, to Under-Secretary, Native Department, 23 March 1925, MA-MLP 1 19101128, NA Wellington 210 Secretary of Forestry, to Under-Secretary Native Department, 22 May 1925, MA-MLP 11910/128, NA Wellington 211 Secretary of Forestry, to Under-Secretary, Native Affairs, 3 December 1925, MA-MLP 1 19191128, NA Wellington

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purchase individual interests for 7s 6d per acre. 212 The owners continued to hold out for a higher price in the belief that the land and timber were worth more than the price offered by the Crown.213 The Forest Service declined to increase the offer on the grounds that the stand of timber on the block was 'only an average one, and the area is so small that it would be useless to a private person. Even in the hands of the State it will not be marketable for many years.'214 Although a number of owners refused to sell at the Crown's price, some took up the offer in 1927 and 1929 and sold their shares to the Crown. By the end of 1929 the Crown had acquired 50 of the 70.5 shares in the block from 10 owners at the rate of 7s 6d per acre (£9 6s 6 3Ad per share).215 It did not, however, take any action to have its interests partitioned out of the block.

The Crown acquired these individual interests under section 109 of the Native Land Amendment Act 1913. This section of the legislation empowered the Crown to negotiate with individual owners to purchase undivided interests in land. In contrast to land acquired through the mechanism of assembled owner meetings the Crown did not need to have its purchases of individual interests confirmed by the relevant Maori Land Board. All that was required was that it purchase the land at the current valuation under the Valuation Act of 1908, and that it satisfy the Native Land Purchase Board that no sellers would be rendered landless as a result of the sale of h . . 216 t e1r mterests.

As required under section 215 of the Native Land Act 1909, the Memorandum of Transfer used to acquire shares in the block contained a statement in Maori that explained the transaction (endorsed by a licensed interpreter); signatures of the vendors; signatures of witnesses, including licensed interpreters who affirmed the vendors understood the transaction; and a map of the block.217

The Forest Service failed to complete the purchase of the block during the 1920s when it proved unable to persuade all owners to accept the 7s 6d price offered.218 The purchase negotiations appear to have been set-aside until the 1940s. In 1947 the Director of Forestry reported that it was desirable to acquire the land between the Kaingaroa State Forest and State Forest 58 (Whirinaki 1 sections 4B2 and 4B1B) for fire prevention purposes and to provide planting land.219 The Lands Department, however, had a different view of the area's future. Informed by the Maori Land Court

212 Under-Secretary, Native Department, to Secretary of Forestry, 3 March 1926, MA-MLP 1 1919/128, NA Wellington 213 WE Goffe, Land Purchase Officer, to Under-Secretary, Native Department, 29 March 1926, MA­MLP 1 1919/128, NA Wellington 214 Secretary of Forestry to Under-Secretary, Native Department, 9 April 1926, MA-MLP 1 1919/128, NA Wellington 215 Memorandum of transfer, Whirinaki 1 section 4BIB, MA W2269 Bundle 6, NA Wellington 216 Section 109 (10), Native Land Amendment Act 1913; Tom Bennion, The Maori Land Court and Land Boards, 1909-1952, Waitangi Tribunal Rangahaua Whanui Series (working paper: first release), Wellington, July 1997, pp.1l-12, 31 217 Memorandum of transfer, Whirinaki 1 section 4BIB, MA W2269, NA Wellington 218 Conservator of Forests to Office- in-Charge, Native Land Board, Wellington, 1 July 1926, MA­MLP 11910/128, NA Wellington 219 Cited in Under-Secretary Lands to Under-Secretary Native Department, 5 September 1947, MA­MLP 119101128, NA Wellington. Also in F W3129 1I17/2a, NA Wellington.

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that the 4B2 ('Ngahuinga') blocks were likely to be developed by the Maori owners as part of the proposed Ngati Manawa consolidation scheme, the Land Settlement Board informed the director in 1948 that it was 'considered advisable that the area be retained in the present ownership with a view to eventual development for farming purposes. ,220

The proposed acquisition of the south-west Whirinaki blocks by the Forest Service was raised again in 1949. The Director of Forestry argued that the Forest Service urgently needed more land for planting in order to supply a proposed pulp mill in the vicinity of Murupara. The land sought by the Service included the Crown-owned Whirinaki 1 section 4B1A block, the partly purchased 4BIB block and the Maori­owned 4B2 blocks. 221 The Director-General of Lands reluctantly agreed that the Crown-owned Whirinaki lands should be made available to the Forest Service, including the partly purchased Whirinaki 1 section 4B1B.222 The director of Forestry asked the Lands Department to arrange the acquisition of the desired Maori-owned blocks by the end of 1951.223 Despite this correspondence, no action appears to have been taken to acquire the outstanding 4BIB shares until the 1960s. These negotiations, and Forestry pursuit of the 4B2 blocks, are discussed below in section 5.6.

5.3 Proposed return of Whirinaki lands 1954

In 1954, a deputation from Ngati Manawa met ET Tirikatene, the Minister of Forestry and Associate Minister of Maori Affairs, at Murupara. The deputation was particularly concerned about the state of the Ngati Manawa Development Scheme involving lands in the north-east of Whirinaki. However, they also raised the possibility of the Crown returning lands it had purchased from N gati Manawa in the west of the block, on the eastern side of the Rangitaiki River. The deputation referred to the land as 'Whirinaki No.1B No.2B and Heruiwi' and described the area as being around 4000 acres. It is not clear which part of the Whirinaki block the deputation was referring to as the block numbers cited do not match numbers issued by the Land Court. However, Heruiwi lay to the south of the block and it is possible that the deputation wished to have Whirinaki 1 section 4B1A (1533 acres) returned to them, or the shares purchased in 4BIB, or possibly land adjacent to the Rangitaiki River to the north of the 4B 1 and 4B2 blocks (Whirinaki 1 section 1). The deputation alleged that the Crown had purchased this land for half-a-crown, or two shillings and sixpence, an acre (which suggests it was part of Whirinaki 1 section 1 rather than section 4B) and suggested that it be offered back to Ngati Manawa for 18 pence per acre. Spokesman Mate Wharehuia stated that Ngati Manawa needed the timber on

220 Report on Ngati Manawa Consolidation Scheme, Judge Harvey, Waiariki Maori Land Court, 16 May 1947; Registrar, Waiariki Maori Land Court, to Under-Secretary Native Department, undated; Land Settlement Board cited in Under-Secretary for Lands to Under-Secretary Maori Affairs, 20 February 1948, MA-MLP 1 1910/128, NA Wellington 221 Director of Forestry to Under-Secretary, Lands, 8 February 1949, ABWN 6095 W5021 box 301 10/92/110 & F W3129 1I17/2a, NA Wellington 222 Under-Secretary of Lands to Director of Forestry, 23 February 1949 & 11 April 1949, ABWN 6095 W5021 box 301 10192/110, NA Wellington 223 Director of Forestry to Director-General, Lands, 12 April 1949, ABWN 6095 W5021 box 301 10192/110, NA Wellington

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the block for buildings and development of the land.224 No action appears to have been taken to offer this land back to Ngati Manawa.225 As will be seen below, the Crown not only failed to offer the nominated land back to Ngati Manawa, it subsequently pursued the purchase of the remaining Maori-owned blocks in the south­west of the block: Whirinaki 1 sections 4B1B and 4B2.

5.4 Timber grants 1960s

During the 1960s the Maori owners of the Whirinaki 1 sections 4B1B and 4B2 blocks sold the timber cutting rights on the land to several different companies:

Whirinaki ... ...... ···Area I········· Cuttingrigb.ts to: Date .. Period Minh;num BJock I (a,r.p) Royalty for ..

I" ". I

'. . . .'. .. ' timber ROR: right of renewal

1 sec. 4B1B 1749.2.07 Bay ten Timber Co. 1963 7 years £3000 Transferred to Pine Milling Co.1964

1 sec. 4B2A 186.0.16 Kauri Sawmills Ltd. 1962 5 years £595 1 sec. 4B2B 721.0.16 Minginui Transport Co. 1960 5 years £8200

ROR 5 years

1 sec. 4B2C 170.2.32 Fletcher Timber Co. 1960 10 years £1300 Transferred to Kauri Sawmills Ltd 1961 ROR 5 years

1 sec. 4B2D 597.0.16 Minginui Transport Co. 1960 5 years £25,400 Transferred to Kauri Sawmills Ltd 1961 ROR 5 years

1 sec. 4B2E 186.0.16 Fletcher Timber Co. 1960 10 years £3100 Transferred to Kauri Sawmills Ltd 1961 ROR 5 years

1 sec. 4B2F 884.0.16 Kauri Sawmills Ltd. 1961 5 years £8000 1 sec. 4B2G 674.0.32 Kauri Sawmills Ltd. 1963 3 years £2000

Two of the blocks had just three owners (4B2A, 4B2E) and one block (4B2C) had only one owner. The remainder of the blocks had multiple owners.226

The Maori Land Court confirmed the grants and the Minister of Forestry consented to each transaction, including the grant over the block in which the Crown was part owner (Whirinaki 1 section 4B1B).227

224 Minutes of Deputation waiting on Minister of Forests, Murupara, 19 March 1958, MA-MLP 1 1910/128, NA Wellington 225 Some preliminary inquiries were made to ascertain which pieces of land were involved but no further action appears to have been taken on this matter: miscellaneous correspondence 1958 MA-MLP 1 1910/128; AAMK 869 875b 63/43/1 Pt 2 & ABWN 6095 W5021 box 30110192/110, NA Wellington 226 Report, Chief Surveyor's Office, undated (circa 1953/54), BAFK 1466/194e (NA Auckland). In 1964, section 4B1B had 18 owners. The number of owners of the other 4B2 blocks during the 1960s does not appear to have been recorded in files examined for this report. See figure 5.6.1 for a list of numbers of owners at the time of partition in 1920. 227 Cutting grant details from Maori Trustee files BBLA 4945, Rotorua Forest Service Conservancy files BAFK 1466 (NA Auckland) and Forestry files F 1 W3139 181 (NA Wellington): individual files are cited in the list of references at the end of this report.

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5.5 Whirinaki 1 section 4B1B and Waiohau B9A exchange

The sale of the timber cutting rights on Whirinaki 1 section 4B1B in 1963 provided the Crown with an opportunity to reopen negotiations with the block's owners to acquire the remaining Maori-owned shares in the block.228 In May 1962 the Bay ten Timber Company informed the Lands and Survey Department that it believed the Maori owners of Whirinaki 1 section 4B 1B were prepared to sell their freehold interest in the block to the Crown provided the timber was sold to the company.229 A special government valuation of the block carried out in 1962 put the value of the block at £3200.230 At an assembled owners meeting held on 18 September 1962, the Maori owners resolved to sell the timber on the block to the Bay ten Timber Company. They declined to sell the freehold to the Crown for the government valuation. However, they raised the possibility of exchanging their interests in this block for land elsewhere.231

On 6 February 1964 the remaining Maori Whirinaki 1 section 4B1B owners unanimously resolved to exchange their interests in the block for ownership of two areas of Crown land (see Figures 7_9):232

, Block '" ":'" """"', -""Area " .l962Yalue "

• Paeroa East 4BIBl 4 acres £137 • Waiohau B Sec.9 202 acres 2 roods 25 perches £785

Total value: £925

The exchange of Maori land for Crown land was regulated under section 261 of the Maori Affairs Act 1953. Under this section, the Board of Maori Affairs could apply to the Maori Land Court to give effect to any agreement to exchange land. Before the Court would implement the exchange it had to be satisfied that the Maori owners agreed to the exchange and be assured that the capital value of the Maori land did not exceed that of the Crown land offered in exchange. Once the Court had issued an exchange order the governor-General would proclaim the exchanged Maori land to be Crown land.233

The exchange of the remaining Maori interests in Whirinaki 1 section 4B1B for Crown land followed the requirements of the 1953 Act. The exchange was made on the basis of land value. The Maori-owned shares in Whirinaki 1 section 4BIB had

228 Efforts to acquire the outstanding 4BIB shares were accompanied by pursuit of similarly outstanding Maori-owned shares in the nearby Heruiwi 4A2B block. The Crown's pursuit of the shares in Heruiwi 4A2B is discussed in Tulloch, 'Heruiwi Blocks 1-4', pp.96-115. 229 Davys & Burton, Barristers and Solicitors, Rotorua, to Lands and Survey Department, Auckland, 7 May 1962, ABWN 6095 W5021 box 301 10/92/110, NA Wellington 230 Chief Surveyor, Auckland, to Director-General, Lands, 9 July 1962, ABWN 6095 W5021 box 301 10/92/110, NA Wellington 231 Statement of proceedings of meeting of assembled owners, Murupara, 18 September 1962; Chief Surveyor, Auckland, to Director-General, Lands, 20 September 1962, ABWN 6095 W5021 box 301 10/92/110, NA Wellington 232 Maori Investigating Officer, Department of Lands and Survey, to Director-General, Lands, 11 February 1964, ABWN 6095 W5021 box 301 10/92/110, NA Wellington 233 Sections 261, 262, 265, Maori Affairs Act 1953

65)

Xl

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Figure 7: Whirinaki 1 section4BlB (1964)

- ==='-----...",..-

.2 .:)7

xv

Plan of

Whlrinail N° I Sec 4 8 / 8 ,

Blocks XI d' XJ;1 Wheao SD)

SouiA Auckland Land Disfric~

Source: Plan in ABWN 6095 W5021 box 301 10/92/110, National Archives, Wellington

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Figure 8: Paeroa East 4BIBl (1964)

VI PAEROA SD.

451S1 PT P'AE'ROA EA5T - c~ ..... LAHO

SKETCH PU~N SHOWING, HACHURLO REO

APPROXIMATE LOCATION OF CROwN LANO IN

PA£~OA fAST 4-5IS' ro 6E OFFE~£I) .N E~CHA~

n':)R 5+tA~ INWHUUHAXI N°I ~4-B'B

Source: Plan in ABWN 6095 W5021 box 301 10192/110, National Archives, Wellington

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Figure 9: Waiohau B section 9 (1964)

BLK. XV RA1\IGITAIK.1 LOWER S.D

~ ~5 (OIN"U~ Iy.t'-r"~f>'--< '- ,,, \l-lh, ,--, .. a!(' u; .. , 116 I~

S~h::h Plan: Show1.t1.9 Por1:ion of Waiohau B Sec 9 (forman~ l'h.Walohau IA IDI r.2) Crown Land. to ba,

E,,~ed. f~ Mao-ri In't~.h 1.'n. Whiri.n.akl. No.1 S~c4-BIB

5.=a.L=. : 40 ch.a.i.n s to an i n...ch

Source: Plan in ABWN 6095 W5021 box 301 10192/110, National Archives, Wellington

A-l!:.~~

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been given a government valuation of £925 in 1962.234 The land offered by the Crown matched this value. As shown in the table above (page 65), the Crown offered two pieces of land in exchange: Paeroa East 4BIBI (4 acres) and Waiohau B Section 9 (202 acres). However, new valuations of the land in 1964 indicated that the Crown areas offered should be adjusted to meet the equivalent value of Whirinaki land being exchanged: the Paeroa East area should be reduced to 2 acres and the Waiohau area be expanded to 221 acres. At a Maori Land Court hearing held on 15 April 1964 to consider the exchange resolution, the Crown representative, Mr Briffault, agreed to leave the Paeroa East exchange area at 4 acres but to increase the Waiohau area to 221 acres. The Crown also agreed to survey the blocks. The Court agreed to confirm the exchange resolutions but declared that before final exchange orders could be made, 'the Court will need to be satisfied that the Maori interests in timber and royalties are safeguarded to them by adequate means.,235 The Board of Maori Affairs adopted the resolution with its amended exchange areas and the Lands Department prepared a document to secure the Maori owners' interests in the block's timber royalties.236

Whirinaki 1 section 4BIB was proclaimed Crown Land on 13 January 1965.237

5.5.1 Issues arising: Whirinaki 1 section 4B1B

The Crown's strategy of purchasing individual interests in Whirinaki 1 section 4BIB in the late 1920s is open to question. This strategy was implemented following the rejection of the Crown's purchase offers at assembled owner meetings in 1923 and 1925. Section 109 of the Native Land Amendment Act 1913 allowed the Crown to purchase undivided interests in land. This mechanism recognised the rights of individual Maori to sell their interests in land regardless of the wishes of their fellow owners. It thus undermined the ability of Maori to retain ancestral lands in tribal or communal ownership. The rights of the individual, and the Crown, were privileged over the rights of the group.

The Crown also used this 'divide and buy' strategy to acquire undivided interests in Whirinaki 1 sections 4B2A to 4B2G. The validity of this strategy, and the adequacy of legislative protections, are discussed in more detail below in section 5.6.6.

5.6 Whirinaki 1 sections 4B2A-4B2G

5.6.1 Crown pursuit of 4B2 shares 1952-1968

As noted earlier in this chapter, Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 was subdivided in 1920 into seven blocks as follows (see Figure 6):

234 Proposed Acquisition of Maori Land by the Crown, Board of Maori Affairs, 18 December 1963, ABWN 6095 W5021 box 301 10/92/110, NA Wellington. See also correspondence regarding areas to be exchanged in LlNZ file 20/517, voLl, LlNZ Hamilton and MA 1 5/5/169 (NA Wellington) 235 Extract from Whakatane Minute Book, vol.33, fols 284-287, ABWN 6095 W5021 box 301 10/921110, NA Wellington 236 Acquisition of Maori Land by the Crown, Board of Maori Affairs, 2 June 1964, ABWN 6095 W5021 box 30110/92/110, NA Wellington 237 Extract from New Zealand Gazette, 1965, no 2, pAl, MA 15/5/169 (NA Wellington)

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Block Area (a.r :P.) Number of owners 4B2A 186.0.16 1 4B2B 721.0.16 11 4B2C 170.2.32 2 4B2D 597.0.16 11 4B2E 186.0.16 1 4B2F 884.0.16 11 4B2G 674.0.32 19

Total area 3419.1.24

The owners of the Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 blocks referred to this area as 'Ngahuinga'. They continued to use this name for the combined area of the subdivided blocks despite the 1920 partitioning of the land.

In 1952 the Forest Service had the millable timber on the Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 blocks 'tentatively estimated' as part of its plans to approach the owners to sell the blocks. The Director of Forestry informed the Director-General of Lands that the timber was possibly worth around £32,030.238 Lands and Survey Department inquiries revealed that the 4B2 block had been partitioned in 1920 but that the subdivisions had not been surveyed. In order to supply separate timber values for each partition, new surveys and individual timber appraisals would need to be made. Eager to avoid this expense, the Director-General of Lands approached the Maori Land Court to see if it would cancel the 1920 partition orders. However, the Court declined to do so. In view of this, the Director-General suggested to the Under­Secretary of Maori Affairs that the best approach might be to speak with the owners of Whirinaki 1 sections 4B2A, 4B2C and 4B2E (2, 2 and 3 owners respectively) in order to gain some idea as to whether it was worth having the partitions surveyed in order to make firm offers to the 4B2 owners.239 On 5 March 1953 the Board of Maori Affairs approved of negotiations being entered into with the owners of the three blocks 'at an amount not less than a special Government valuation, plus Forest Service royalties' .240 However, formal negotiations do not appear to have been entered into for several more years. Maori Affairs, Forestry and Lands files held at Archives New Zealand do not contain any correspondence on the proposed purchases between 1953 and the mid-1960s. Informal approaches to the owners of the 4B2A, 4B2C and 4B2E blocks may have revealed a reluctance to sell to the Crown.

As noted above, the owners of the Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 blocks sold timber cutting rights on the blocks in the early 1960s. Cutting was completed on the blocks by 1966.241

238 Director of Forestry to Director-General, Lands, 29 September 1952, MA W2459 5/5/101, NA Wellington 239 Director-General, Lands, to Under-Secretary for Maori Affairs, 28 January 1953, MA W2459 5/5/101, NA Wellington 240 Proposed Crown Purchase, Board of Maori Affairs, 6 March 1953, MA W2459 5/5/101, NA Wellington 241 Director-General, Forest Service, to Director-General, Lands, 31 March 1966, AAMX W3529 box 322/284 voU, NA Wellington

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In 1965, agricultural contractors Prang ley Prang ley and Samuel approached the owners of the Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 blocks with an offer to purchase the seven partitions. The Rotorua Maori Land Court authorized meetings of assembled owners to consider the contractors' proposals.242 The Forest Service viewed this development with alarm. AL Poole, the Director-General of the Service, informed the Director­General of Lands on 27 July 1965 that the blocks had 'special value to the Forest Service as potential planting land'. Poole had earlier informed the Lands Department that the 'whole area presents a potential fire hazard of no mean order. It is also a reservoir for noxious animals and noxious weeds' .243 Poole asked that the Lands Department attempt to acquire the blocks for the Crown. 244

A special government valuation of the blocks, dated 4 May 1965, valued the subdivisions as follows: 245

Block Acreag~ . Unimproved I Improvements £ Capital value £ ,. ...... value £

1 sec. 4B2A 186 290 - 290 1 sec. 4B2B 721 1080 - 1080 1 sec. 4B2C 171 215 - 215 1 sec. 4B2D 597 800 - 800 1 sec. 4B2E 186 280 - 280 1 sec. 4B2F 884 1550 - 1550 1 sec. 4B2G 674 1340 - 1340

Totals ,:

3419 acres .. ....

£5565 ....

£5565 .. -

Poole noted that while the total value of the blocks was believed to be £5565, he was 'of the opinion that their value for forestry purposes would be considerably more than that.,246 The Director-General of Lands, still interested in the farming potential of the area, replied that he had already instructed the Commissioner of Crown Lands to proceed with the acquisition 'with the question of future utilisation (forestry or f .) If' h ., 247 armmg e t open m t e meantIme .

In correspondence relating to private and Crown interest in the blocks, the Rotorua Maori Affairs District Officer offered the following description of the land:

Only a comparatively small part of each block was timber bearing, the balance being scrub and open country rising from the Wheao River at 1,200 feet to

242 Extract from Rotorua Maori Land Court minute book, 131, fols.166-168, 12 July 1965, MA W2459 5/5/1 01, NA Wellington 243 Director-General, Forest Service, to Direct General, Lands, 17 May 1965, AAMX W3529 box 3 22/284 voU, NA Wellington 244 Director-General, Forest Service, to Director-General, Lands, 27 July 1965, ABWN 6095 W5021 box 301 10192/110, NA Wellington 245 Director-General, Lands, to Secretary for Maori Affairs, 20 September 1965, MA W2459 5/5/101, NA Wellington 246 Director-General, Forest Service, to Director-General, Lands, 27 July 1965, ABWN 6095 W5021 box 301 10/92/110, NA Wellington 247 Director-General, Lands, to Director-General, Forest Service, 31 March 1966, ABWN 6095 W5021 box 301 10192/110, NA Wellington

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approximately 2,300 feet with the bush on the highest country. Approximately half of the open country is considered workable for farming development.

The blocks are 11 miles south of Murupara and adjoin the Kaingaroa State Forest. The practical access to the blocks is through the Kaingaroa Forest, although there is an existing narrow logging road from the Murupara­Waikaremoana Road to the east. This access traverses Crown land and was constructed under a license from the Crown to permit the removal of the timber. 248

The district officer had been prepared to arrange meetings of assembled owners to consider the private and Crown offers to purchase the blocks.249 However, the Lands Department decided to forgo a meeting of the three 4B2C block owners in favour of acquiring the block by means of a memorandum of transfer. The owners (one in Taranaki and two in the Bay of Plenty) agreed to the Crown offer of £3 per acre for their interests in December 1965. The total price paid, £516, was considerably higher than the special government valuation of £215 but was similar to prices paid for other lands recently purchased in the area.250

Whirinaki 1 section 4B2C had been targeted early on in the purchase process, in part because it had only a few owners. 251 However, the purchase of this block also had strategic implications. The Crown's acquisition of 4B2C divided the parent 4B2 block into two areas of Maori-owned land either side of a Crown owned block. The Conservator of Forests in Rotorua commented that this development 'reduces the value [of the Whirinaki 4B2 blocks] as a farming unit to Messrs. Prangley, Prangley and Samuel who have been authorized to call meetings of owners to consider sale' .252

The Commissioner of Crown Lands was also well aware of the strategic value of the purchase of the 4B2C block. He informed the Director-General of Lands on 16 June 1966 that no action had been taken to call meetings of owners of the remaining blocks 'as it is hoped that the European competitive buyers may withdraw their offer. This of course could greatly affect the price we may be forced to pay for these lands' .253

The Prangleys were not initially dissuaded from continuing to seek the purchase of the blocks. They indicated to Crown officials that they were willing to proceed with a private purchase for around £5 to £6 per acre.254 The Director-General of Forests was not impressed. He did not wish to get into a bidding war with private purchasers at an

248 District Officer, Maori Affairs, Rotorua, to Head Office, Wellington, 1 October 1965, MA W2459 5/5/101, NA Wellington 249 Secretary for Maori Affairs, to Director-General, Lands, 15 October 1965, MA W2459 5/5/101, NA Wellington 250 Director-General, Lands, to Secretary for Maori Affairs, 16 December 1965; Memorandum of transfer (Auckland Deed 5556), MA W2459 5/5/101, NA Wellington. Commissioner of Crown Lands, Hamilton, to Director-Genera!, Lands, 1 December 1965, AAMX W3529 box 3 22/284 voLl, NA Wellington 251 Proposed Crown Purchase, Board of Maori Affairs, 6 March 1953, MA W2459 5/5/101, NA Wellington 252 Cited in Director-General, Forest Service, to Director-General, Lands, 31 March 1966, ABWN 6095 W5021 box 301 10192/110, NA Wellington 253 Commissioner of Crown Lands, Hamilton, to Director-General, Lands, 16 June 1966, AAMX W3529 box 3 22/284 voLl, NA Wellington 254 Director-General, Lands, to Director-General, Forests, 13 July 1966, AAMX W3529 box 322/284 voLl, NA Wellington

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assembled owners meeting and advised the Director-General of Lands that it 'might be wiser to let the applicants be fully aware of the disadvantages of these blocks and for the State to be prepared to compensate the owners in other ways'. He noted that there was:

no legal access to the blocks. It can be certain that no access will be granted through the Kaingaroa Forest since any such rights would interfere with the logging operations on that forest ... the Forest Service would strongly oppose the granting of a permanent road right and certainly would not be prepared to spend any money on the four or five miles of private road through State forest.

While we should not attempt to outbid the applicants at auction or by sealed tender it could possibly be made known that the Forest Service would be prepared to match the £5 or £6 that Prangleys are expected to offer. 255

Crown representatives' warnings to the Prangleys of the difficulties they might face failed to deter the contractors from presenting private purchase offers to the 4B2 block owners at meetings of assembled owners held on 6 August 1966.256 The Prangleys did not make the owners a 'firm and final offer' but indicated they were willing to negotiate a suitable price. The owners also considered Crown offers for the various blocks at the meeting. Department representative Mr Briffault attended the meeting and explained that the Crown was willing to negotiate to purchase or exchange Crown land for the Maori-owned interests should the owners decide not to sell to the Prangleys. The Crown offered the owners £3 per acre for their interests. This was almost double the government valuation but matched prices paid to owners of the adjoining lands: 4B2C and 4B2E. Briffault explained that the government valuation for the blocks was so low because the blocks had not been surveyed, fenced or developed and had no legal access.257

The Maori owners subsequently declined the offers for their land from the Prangleys and from the Crown. Owner Heni Tame Ngahuka Nikera declared, 'I wish to retain the heritage of our ancestors - [I] want to hold land for [our] children'. Influential owner Henry Bird declared his opposition to the sale on the grounds that N gati Manawa 'was practically landless' .258 The Commissioner of Crown Lands later reported that Mr Bird had persuaded a number of owners not to sell their interests at this time, although they had previously indicated that they would sell.

Given the inability of the 'sellers' to have resolutions to sell passed at the meetings, the commissioner recommended that the Crown acquire undefined shares in the land. The commissioner did not think this would cause the Maori owners particular concern, but was well aware that a number of owners wished to retain the 4B2 lands:

255 Director-General, Forest Service, to Director-General, Lands, 18 July 1966, AAMX W3529 box 3 22/284 voU, NA Wellington 256 Commissioner of Crown Lands, Hamilton, to Director-General, Lands, 23 August 1965; Commissioner of Crown Lands, Hamilton, to Director-General, Lands, 9 August 1966, AAMX W3529 box 3 22/284 voLl, NA Wellington 257 Minutes of assembled owners meeting, 6 August 1966; Commissioner of Crown Lands, Hamilton, to Director-General, Lands, 9 August 1966, MP 72, LINZ, Hamilton 258 Minutes of meeting, 6 August 1966, AAMX W3529 box 322/284 voLl, NA Wellington

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This, I do not consider, will upset the remaining owners as the influential owner, Mr Bird '" is aware of our intentions and does not appear to be over concerned with them. Some of these other owners including Mr Bird have indicated that they are prepared to buy some of the sellers' shares in order to retain this block. However, while the sellers are prepared to sell to us, and while the New Zealand Forest Service Senior Ranger has indicated this a satisfactory arrangement, and in view of the general opinion that these blocks are not only an embarrassment to the Crown in their location but are also fast becoming an extreme fire hazard to the State Forest then I intend to take immediate action to buy those shares which could well go to other owners.259

The Crown proceeded to purchase undivided shares in the remaining Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 blocks through the mechanism of memoranda of transfer at the rate of £3 per acre. Shares purchased in this way did not need to be confirmed by the Maori Land Court.260 The Crown acquired all interests in the 4B2E block in 1966.261

However, its officers proved unable to convince all owners in the remaining blocks to sell their interests to the Crown. In 1967 the Crown ceased buying undivided shares in the 4B2 blocks, apparently at the request of the non-selling Maori owners. 262

The following list of shares acquired by the Crown in the Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 blocks in 1966 and 1967 was produced in 1969:263

Blo:ck Area{a.r~) Crown shares Total shares % purchased 4B2A 186.0.16 99.15 199.00 49.82 4B2B 721.0.16 295.37681 771.25 38;29 ,

4B2D 597.0.16 335.3856 638.50 52.53 4B2F 884.0.16 12.5 38.00

,,' " 32.89 4B2G 674.0.32 0.10937 29.00 038

5.6.2 Proposals to exchange Crown landfor Maori interests 1968-1969

In November 1968 the Director-General of Lands noted that, 'many of the remaining owners [were] prepared to negotiate only on an exchange basis' .264 The District Surveyor and New Zealand Forest Service subsequently prepared plans showing areas of land near Murupara that could be exchanged for the outstanding Maori-owned 4B2

259 Commissioner of Crown Lands, Hamilton, to Director-General, Lands, 9 August 1966, AAMX W3529 box 322/284 yoU, NA Wellington 260 Commissioner of Crown Lands, Hamilton, to Registrar Maori Land Court, Rotorua, 26 September 1966, AAMX W3529 box 322/284 yoU, NA Wellington. 261 Director-General, Lands, to Secretary for Maori Affairs,S November 1968, MA W2459 5/5/101, NA Wellington; Commissioner of Crown Lands, Hamilton, to Director-General, Lands, 18 July 1966, AAMX W3529 box 322/284 yoU, NA Wellington 262 Note for file, B Briffault, Maori Land Division, Lands Department, Hamilton, 14 March 1969, AAMX W3529 box 322/284 voU, NA Wellington 263 Note for file, re Ministerial Inquiry, B Briffault, Maori Land Division, Lands Department, Hamilton, 14 March 1969, AAMX W3529 box 3 22/284 yoU, NA Wellington 264 Director-General, Lands to Secretary for Maori Affairs,S November 1968, MA W2459 5/5/101, NA Wellington. See also 1968 correspondence in AAMX W3529 box 322/284 yoU, NA Wellington, regarding the proposed exchange areas.

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shares.265

On 13 November 1968 the Board of Maori Affairs agreed that a meeting of assembled owners of the Whirinaki 4B2 blocks should be called to consider the following resolutions:266

(a) That the remaining Maori-owned interests in the said blocks valued at $14,966 be exchanged for an area of equivalent value calculated at 3000 acres in the Crown owned land described as Whirinaki Part 1 Section 2 and Part 2 Section 2 block and that approval be given to the laying off or a roadline in favour of the New Zealand Forest Service if this is necessary.

(b) That the remaining Maori-owned interests in the said blocks valued at $14,966 be exchanged for the Crown owned land described as Section 1, Block V, Galatea Survey District containing an area of 298 acres and valued at $7,575, the Crown also to pay the sum of $7,391 as equality of exchange and that approval be given to the laying off or a roadline in favour of the New Zealand Forest Service if this is necessary.

The Board was required to apply to the Maori Land Court to have the proposed meeting held. It did not do so immediately and, as will be seen below in section 4.6.4, the application and the proposed meeting were derailed by subsequent events.

On 25 February 1969, Mr MD Bird, an owner in the 4B2 blocks, suggested to the Minister of Lands that Crown-owned interests in the Whirinaki blocks could be exchanged for Motumako, an area of 500 acres within the Kaingaroa 1 block. 267 The Crown had purchased the Kaingaroa 1 block in 1880. However, Ngati Manawa later alleged that part of the block, Motumako, had not been sold with the rest of the land and should have been set aside as a reserve. Ngati Manawa had repeatedly petitioned the Crown from the 1920s to have this area returned to them. The Crown had offered Ngati Manawa 100 acres in the Karamuramu block north of Whirinaki in 1935 in final settlement of the Motumako grievance. Ngati Manawa had, however, rejected this offer. Mr Bird's proposal provided the Crown with a new opportunity to resolve the Motumako grievance in conjunction with Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 ownership issues.

In order to address attempts to resolve the Whirinaki question in the 1970s, it is necessary to examine the early history of the Motumako grievance. The following section steps back into the nineteenth century to explain the origins of the Motumako grievance and attempts to resolve it prior to the 1960s. The Whirinaki narrative resumes in section 4.6.4 with a discussion of negotiations between 1969 and 1975.

5.6.3 The Motumako grievance and the early campaign to reclaim the land

Note: The Motumako grievance has been researched in some detail by Klaus Neumann in a report commissioned by the Crown Forestry Rental Trust: Maori and Forestry in the Twentieth Century: A Preliminary Report (August 2000). This report

265 Plans of proposed exchange areas; Director-General, Lands to Secretary for Maori Affairs, 5 November 1968, MA W2459 5/5/101, NA Wellington 266 Proposed Acquisition of Maori Land by the Crown, Board of Maori Affairs, 13 November 1968, AAMX W3529 box 322/284 voLl, NA Wellington 267 MD Bird, Secretary, Ngati Manawa Advisory Committee, Ohinemutu, Rotorua, to Minister of Lands, 25 February 1969, AAMX W3529 box 3 22/284 voLl, NA Wellington

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had not been released by the time this current report was submitted to the Waitangi Tribunal.

Motumako, an area of 500 acres, lay within the Kaingaroa 1 block to the west of Whirinaki. In 1875, Ngati Manawa leased lands on the Kaingaroa plains to the Crown. Several reserves, including Motumako, were excluded from the Kaingaroa 1 lease. Details of the leasing of Kaingaroa 1 and nearby Rangitaiki lands can be found in Kathryn Rose's report, The Bait and the Hook: Crown Purchasing in Taupo and the Central Bay of Plenty in the 1870s. 268 The Crown purchased Kaingaroa 1 (103,340 acres) in 1880 for around £7700. 269 Gwenda and C Maanu Paul's report, 'The History of Kaingaroa 1', outlines this transaction.27o Two reserves, Oruatewehi and Rangipo, were excluded from the purchase. Motumako was not mentioned in the Court order awarding Kaingaroa 1 to the Crown:

In the Native Land Court of New Zealand, Wednesday, 1st June, 1881. The Court doth order and declare that the land in the district of Rotorua in the provincial District of Auckland in the colony of New Zealand known as Kaingaroa No.1 containing 104,480 acres more or less described and comprised in the memorial of ownership of the said land issued by this Court dated 4/11180, excepting two pieces named Oruatewehi 417-acs. 3 rds. and Rangipo 670 acs., shall from and after the date of this order he held in freehold tenure by Rer Majesty Queen Victoria the purchaser of the said land from the native owners thereof, named in the said memorial of ownership, as witness the hand of Theophilus Reale, Esquire, Judge of the said Court and the Seal of the said Court, hereto sat this day and year first herein before written.271

No title was issued for a reserve under the name of Motumako.272

In 1924, Wharehuia Heta and 38 others petitioned the Crown on behalf of N gati Manawa to have the Kaingaroa 1 purchase investigated. The petitioners claimed that a number of people had been left out of the title, the sale was not made in accord with legislative provisions in place at the time, the price was too low, and that two reserves, Kiorenui and Motumako, had been excluded from the sale but had subsequently been taken over by the Crown. Kiorenui (6158 acres) was intended for use as a fishing ground while Motumako (500 acres) was to be retained as a timber reserve.273 Later correspondence suggests that the debate over the status of Motumako emerged at this time because the Forest Service began to restrict access to the Kaingaroa lands in the 1920s. Until the Service interfered with their access to the block for pig hunting and other purposes, Ngati Manawa may not have been aware that the Crown claimed Motumako as part of the 1880 Kaingaroa 1 purchase. 274

268 Kathryn Rose, The Bait and the Hook: Crown Purchasing in Taupo and the Central Bay of Plenty in the 1870s, Crown Forestry Rental Trust, July 1997, pp.137-141 269 AJHR, 1926, G-6B, p.3 270 Paul & Paul, pp.67-73 271 Extract from Court Minutes, in Commissioner of Crown Lands to Under-Secretary for Lands, 10 May 1938, MA 1 W2459 5/13/240, NA Wellington 272 AJHR, 1926, G-6B, p.3 273 Petition No.377 of 1924, MA 1 W2459 5/13/240, NA Wellington 274 Conservator of Forests, to Director of Forestry, 1 April 1933, F W3129 6/2/1/2, NA Wellington

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According to representations made to the Crown by Ngati Manawa in later years, Motumako had been reserved from the sale because it contained '300 acres of bush which contained totara, matai, miro, tawa and scattered rimu and kahikatea'. The Motumako claimants maintained that the owners had occupied the reserve when Kaingaroa 1 was sold and had contained a village with a meeting house, and good water, food and timber supplies. The owners had abandoned the village in the 1860s as a result of the conflict between the Crown and Kereopa, 'murderer of Rev. Volkner', and Te Kooti. 275

The 1924 claims were investigated under section 34 of the Native Land Amendment and Native Land Claims Adjustment Act 1925. In 1926 Judge Holland of the Waiariki Maori Land Court reported that Ngati Manawa's claims were unfounded, apart from the case of the Motumako reserve. Holland suggested that it had indeed been intended at the time of sale that Motumako be set-aside for Ngati Manawa, although no title had been created and the Court did not compile a list of owners of the alleged reserve. He based this opinion on the grounds that:

there was apparently an actual survey which comprises 200 and 300 acres and adjoins Oruatewehi Reserve. The petitioners claim that these areas comprised two bushes which were to be set aside from the sale. Although there is no documentary evidence to support this, I am inclined to think that the two areas comprised two of the bushes alluded to by [land purchase officer] Captain Mair [as being cut out as reserves] ... A significant fact is that the two areas are surveyed, and are shown on the county litho, although no plan of them is f h . 276 ort cormng.

Judge Holland later informed the Under-Secretary of the Native Department that while he was unable to find a plan showing the Motumako reserve, its presence on the county litho indicated it had been surveyed at some stage:

I am now unable to trace any plan of Motumako reserve - comprising 200 and 300 acres - which is shown on the County Litho. It would appear that there must have been a survey of such reserve otherwise it would not be shown on the County Litho. Mr Darby informed it was not customary to show blocks on litho

h d 277 plans unless t ey were surveye .

Chief Judge RN Jones, who was also the Under-Secretary of the Native Department, was less convinced of the merits of the Ngati Manawa claim to Motumako. Jones sought further clarification on the status of the alleged reserve from the Department of Lands and Survey. He asked the chief surveyor if it was possible that Motumako was part of the Oruatewehi reserve.278 The chief surveyor replied that the name Motumako had been written in pencil across the Oruatewehi block shown on the plan

275 WH Bird, Murupara, to the Acting Native Minister, 3 March 1938, MA 1 W2459 5/13/240, NA Wellington 276 AJHR, 1926, G-6B, pp.3-4, copy in F W3129 6/2/1/2, NA Wellington; Under-Secretary, Native Affairs, to Native Minister, 29 June 1928, MA 1 W2459 5/13/240, NA Wellington 277 Judge Holland, to Under-Secretary, Native Department, 10 October 1927, MA 1 W2459 5/13/240, NA Wellington 278 Chief Judge, Native Department, to Chief Surveyor, Auckland, 20 November 1926, ABWN 6095 W5021 7/652 voU, box 246, NA Wellington

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presented at the Kaingaroa 1 title investigation. He stated that it was 'impossible to say definitely ... if the bushes shown as Motumako and Oruatewehi are identical or that one covers the other'. He also declared that the 500 acres referred to on the County litho had been paid for as part of the total purchase price paid for Kaingaroa 1. Because the 500 acres had been included in the purchase price, there was no need for a survey and no such plan was recorded in the office registers.279

Jones subsequently dismissed Ngati Manawa's claim to Motumako in his summary of Judge Holland's 1926 report. He suggested that Judge Holland had been influenced by the exclusion of Motumako from the lease of Kaingaroa 1 in 1875:

[The report] thinks probably the Ngatimanawa is entitled to a reserve of 500 acres called Motumako because it was mentioned in an inchoate lease. The conveyance by the owners found by the Court would, of course, supersede this old lease as far as any legal claim is concerned.

In view of the report of the Court, and that the sale to the Crown has stood for forty-six years, I recommend that no legislative action be taken.280

Jones informed the Native Minister again in 1927 that his own impression was that the reserve was probably set aside when Kaingaroa 1 was leased but that it was not, 'for some reason', reserved from the sale of the block.281

In 1927, Ngati Manawa submitted a second petition to Parliament. The petition reasserted Ngati Manawa's claim to Motumako. It declared that Motumako was one of several pieces of land excluded from the 1875 Crown lease of Kaingaroa 1 and alleged that it had also been exempted from the alienation of Kaingaroa 1 in 1880.282

The Native Affairs Committee referred the petition to the Government for favourable consideration.

In 1928 the Native Department approached the Department of Lands and Survey and the Forestry Service with the object of arranging for an area equivalent to Motumako to be set-aside for the petitioners. The Lands and Survey Department continued to maintain that the available evidence did not justify this course of action. The Commissioner of Crown Lands suggested that it was quite likely that Motumako and Oruatewehi were the same piece of land:

A further very close scrutiny of the old plans and records fails to disclose any indication that Motumako and Oruatewehi are not identical the fact that, 'Motumako' was written in pencil by the Judge on the past survey as Oruatewehi is, I submit, reasonable proof that they are.283

279 Chief Surveyor to Chief Judge, 3 December 1926, ABWN 6095 W5021 7/652 vol.1, box 246, NA Wellington 280 AJHR, 1926, G-6B, pp.3-4 281 Under-Secretary, Native Affairs, to Native Minister, 29 June 1928, MA 1 W2459 5/13/240, NA Wellington 282 Petition No.224 of 1927, MA 1 W2459 5/13/240, NA Wellington 283 Commissioner of Crown Lands, to Under-Secretary, Lands, 22 December 1928, ABWN 6095 W5021 7/652 vol.1, box 246, NA Wellington

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Despite these reservations, the Lands Department was prepared to consider that a settlement of the Motumako grievance might be warranted for pragmatic reasons. The commissioner suggested that an alternative area of land could be offered the Maori claimants in place of Motumako, although a monetary payment might be the best way of settling the matter.284 Ngati Manawa were prepared to consider a cash offer. On 13 July 1928, Ngati Manawa representative WH Bird informed the Native Affairs Department that the petitioners would consider monetary compensation for the loss of Motumako.285

In 1929, apparently frustrated at the lack of progress in their negotiations with the Crown, the petitioners employed a lawyer to take up their case.286 They also changed their minds regarding the acceptability of a monetary settlement and in 1930 declared that they wished to have Motumako returned to them intact. 287

By this time, the Forest Service had established a plantation on Kaingaroa 1. It had begun planting on Motumako itself in 1926 (see Figure 10).288 By 1930, the Forestry Service had planted around 200 acres of Motumako (known as compartment K7). 289 In April 1930, the Maori petitioners asked the Service to stop planting on the rest of the reserve as they intended to have the land returned and wanted to retain it in its current state.290 The Native Minister asked the Secretary of Forestry to comply with the petitioners' wishes as their claim was still under consideration.291 The Service rather reluctantly agreed to this but noted that it considered isolated blocks of this nature a fire hazard.292

Ngati Manawa's lawyers pressed the Native Department for a definite answer regarding the Crown's intentions towards Motumako in late 1930 and again in early 1931. On 26 January 1931 they informed the Under-Secretary of the Native Department that they had been told the Forestry Service had recommenced work on the block. This was of great concern to their client who asked 'that some measure of satisfaction be accorded him' .293 Jones, in his role as Under-Secretary of the Native Department, informed the lawyers that, 'the matter [of Motumako's status] is not one

284 Commissioner of Crown Lands, to Under-Secretary, Lands, 22 December 1928, MA 1 W2459 5/13/240, NA Wellington 285 WH Bird, Jnr, Murupara, to Mr Hockley, 13 July 1928, MA 1 W2459 5/13/240, NA Wellington 286 Wharehuia Heta, Murupara, to the Hon Sir Apirana Ngata, Minister of Native Affairs, 25 July 1929; WA Carter, Barrister & Solicitor, to Minister of Native Affairs, 17 October 1929, MA 1 W2459 5/13/240, NA Wellington 287 WA Carter, Barrister & Solicitor, to Minister of Native Affairs, 15 April 1930, MA 1 W2459 5/13/240, NA Wellington 288 Conservator of Forests, Rotorua, to Secretary of Forestry, 21 May 1928, F W3129 6/211/2, NA Wellington 289 Conservator of Forests, Rotorua, to Director of Forestry, 12 May 1930, F W3129 6/2/112, NA Wellington 290 Carter & Speer, Barristers & Solicitors, to Conservator of Forests, Rotorua, 15 April 1930, F W3129 6/2/1/2, NA Wellington 291 Under-Secretary, Native Affairs, to Secretary of Forestry, 15 May 1930, MA 1 W2459 5/13/240, NA Wellington 292 Director of Forestry, to Under-Secretary, Native Department, 17 May 1930, MA 1 W2459 5/13/240, NA Wellington 293 Carter & Speer, Barristers & Solicitors, to Under-Secretary, Native Department, 26 January 1931, MA 1 W2459 5/13/240, NA Wellington

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that can be forced'. He stated that while the Native Minister wanted to resolve the situation he lacked the authority to deal with Crown Lands. Furthermore, the Lands Department did not wish to give up the land without substantial proof that the claimants owned it. Little could be done given the claimants had refused to take other land in compensation, 'and there', Jones, concluded, 'the matter rests' .294

In July 1931, Ngati Manawa suggested that Motumako be exchanged for the 315 acre Karamuramu block at Galatea (Section 1 Block V) and 185 acres of a nearby state forest reserve. The Karamuramu block had been set-aside as a school site.295 Neither the Lands nor Education Departments supported this proposal. The Lands Department considered the land proposed for exchange to be worth considerably more than Motumako.296

The Lands Department continued to question the validity of the petitioners' claim that Motumako should have been set aside as a reserve when Kaingaroa 1 was sold. On 11 September 1931 the Commissioner of Crown Lands suggested to the Under­Secretary for Lands that, 'all the evidence available on plans' showed that Motumako was part of the Oruatewehi Reserve which had been set aside at the time of sale. For reasons unknown, the County Map showed an area of 500 acres near Oruatewehi. While the petitioners claimed that this was Motumako, the commissioner thought it was probably a piece of bush called Rekereke:

When the Crown purchased [Kaingaroa 1] certain reserves were made but no mention was made of Motumako and Rekereke although an area called Oruatewehi was reserved and this area comprised bush country only. On the plan produced before the Native Land Court upon investigation of title Oruatewehi is shown and the word 'Motumako' has been written (presumably by the presiding Judge) across Oruatewehi. However on the County Map is shown an area of 500 acres situated close to Oruatewehi and how this information came to be shown on this map has not been discovered. No plan exists in this office and it was the difficulty of finding a reason for the area being shown on the County Map which probably influenced the Court in coming to the decision [that Motumako was intended to be set aside for Ngati Manawa].

The commissioner informed the Under-Secretary that an 'exhaustive search among records and plans' failed to shed light on the status of Rekereke or Motumako or to explain the marking out of the 500 acres.297

In spite of his doubts regarding the validity of Ngati Manawa's claim to Motumako, the commissioner commented that he was 'inclined to given the natives the benefit of the doubt in respect of the area of 500 acres'. Pragmatic considerations, or a perceived need to achieve some finality on the matter, may have encouraged this more

294 Under-Secretary, Native Department, to Carter & Speer, Solicitors, 5 February 1931, F W3129 6/2/1/2, NA Wellington 295 Carter & Speer, Barristers & Solicitors, to Under-Secretary, Native Department, 4 July 1931, MA 1 W2459 5/13/240, NA Wellington 296 Under-Secretary, Lands, to Under-Secretary, Native Department, 12 August 1931; Office of Minister of Education, to Native Minister, 11 April 1932, MA 1 W2459 5/13/240, NA Wellington 297 Commissioner of Crown Lands, to Under-Secretary for Lands, 11 September 1931, MA 1 W2459 5/13/240, NA Wellington

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Figure 10: Motumako (1930)

PI Z (

Plo;fl 0-/

/Varo"e IT'esarve.s on K.i;1/·/7g~rqc:;,7 ;='/"'.

Source: Plan in.F W3129 6/2/1/2, National Archives, Wellington

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conciliatory attitude. The commissioner suggested that any exchange of land to settle the Motumako grievance should be made on a valuation basis. On the basis of land value, the petitioners should be offered just 100 acres of the Karamuramu block education reserve in exchange for the 500 acres claimed by the petitioners.298

The unwillingness of the Education Department to given up the 100 acres of education reserve identified by the commissioner stalled the attempts of the Native and Lands Departments to reach a resolution with Ngati Manawa. The Education Department believed it was up to the Forest Service, rather than itself, to compensate the Motumako petitioners.299

The Forest Service became impatient with the delay in resolving the fate of Motumako. The director of Forestry informed the Under-Secretary of the Native Department in September 1932 that the 'area has become a very serious menace to the Kaingaroa Plantation as a whole, and it is imperative that this service assume complete control immediately'. The director further declared that as proclamations setting the area apart for State Forest purposes had not been declared invalid, the Conservator of Forests, Rotorua, would be instructed to take control over the area and make the necessary preparations for planting.300

Apirana Ngata, the Minister of Native Affairs, expressed concern at this turn of events. On 5 October 1932, he informed the Minister of Lands that, 'Between the Forestry Dept and the Education Dept it looks as if some injustice is likely to be done to the Natives' .301 The Minister's concern did not, however, result in a swift resolution of the matter. The proposed exchange of land appears to have been set aside for some years following this communication.

Although the Forest Service had expressed its intention to recommence planting on Motumako in 1932, it does not appear to have done so at this time. In 1933 the conservator informed the director of Forestry that he considered it 'inadvisable to do anything with it until the question of ownership has been definitely settled'. He added that the Maori claimants had threatened to set fire to the block if the Service attempted to resume planting on the land.302 In March 1934 the director again informed the Under-Secretary of the Native Department of the urgent need to continue planting on the land in order to reduce the fire risk to the rest of the Kaingaroa plantation. He stated that he had instructed the conservator to prepare the

298 Commissioner of Crown Lands, to Under-Secretary for Lands, 11 September 1931, MA 1 W2459 5/13/240, NA Wellington 299 Office of Minister of Education, to Native Minister, 11 April 1932, MA 1 W2459 5/13/240, NA Wellington 300 Director of Forestry, to Under-Secretary, Native Department, 29 September 1932, MA 1 W2459 5113/240, NA Wellington 301 Note, Apirana Ngata, Minister of Native Affairs, to the Minister of Lands, 5 October 1932, on Director of Forestry, to Under-Secretary, Native Department, 29 September 1932, MA 1 W2459 5/13/240, NA Wellington 302 Conservator of Forests, to Director of Forestry, 1 April 1933, F W3129 6/21112, NA Wellington

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land for planting.303 Once again, the conservator advised the director that this was not recommended given the threats made by the Motumako petitioners.304

The failure of the Crown to reach a settlement with the Motumako petitioners caused them, as well as the Forest Service, considerable frustration. The Rotorua conservator informed the director of Forestry in October 1934 that he had recently had 'a stormy interview with Mr Wharehuia Heta, the claimant for [Motumako]'. Mr Heta had declared that unless something definite was done to resolve the issue, he would take steps to occupy the block. Given Mr Heta's uncom~romising attitude, the conservator advised that some finality be reached in the matter. 3

5

It was not until 1935 that the Crown presented the Motumako petitioners with a proposed settlement. On 18 December 1935 the Crown asked Ngati Manawa to consider accepting 100 acres of Karamuramu, the Galatea education reserve, as a settlement for Motumako.306 The 100 acres was under lease to a Pakeha farmer until 1941. However, the Maori claimants rejected the offer at this time and again in 1937 and 1938 on the grounds that Motumako was worth more than the area offered. They argued that Motumako was worth more per acre than the surrounding Kaingaroa lands because it had, at the time of sale, contained valuable forest (300 acres), an occupied village, a meeting house and a water supply. They also argued that the Crown had taken the timber off the block without the leave or payment of the Maori owners. Ngati Manawa nevertheless expressed a Willingness to compromise and indicated that they would accept the entire 315 acres of Karamuramu in settlement of the Motumako

• 307 gnevance.

The Commissioner of Crown Lands disagreed with a number of the claims made by the Motumako petitioners. He highlighted alleged inaccuracies in a letter to the Under-Secretary for Lands:

• While the petitioners asserted that Motumako had been specifically excluded from the Kaingaroa 1 sale in 1881 the Court minutes [cited earlier] did not support this. The minutes made no mention of Motumako.

• If the alleged village had been occupied at the time of sale then some mention would have been made of this when the block was sold. There was no mention of an occupied kainga on the reserve at the time of sale.

• 'The forest value claimed in 1880 was practically nil - the value would be for firewood - but there was an abundance close at hand in the Oruatewehi Reserve'.

303 Director of Forestry, to Under-Secretary, Native Department, 2 March 1934, MA 1 W2459 5/13/240, NA Wellington 304 Conservator of Forests, Rotorua, to Director of Forestry, 19 April 1934, F W3129 6/2/1/2, NA Wellington 305 Director of Forestry, to Under-Secretary, Native Department, 16 October 1934, MA 1 W2459 5/13/240, NA Wellington 306 Under-Secretary, Native Department, to RA Potter, Barrister & Solicitor, Rotorua, 18 December 1935, MA 1 W2459 5/13/240, NA Wellington 307 WH Bird, Murupara, to the Acting Native Minister, 3 March 1938, MA 1 W2459 5/13/240, NA Wellington

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The petitioners had claimed that an Order of the Native Land Court had defined this area and its ownership. However, 'There was never any order of the Native Land Court defining Motumako and no order was made as to ownership. If [this claim] was accurate there would be no necessity to petition for the land since the natives would hold it under order of the Court.'

The commissioner concluded that in light of these points he was not inclined to change his earlier recommendations regarding the exchange of 100 acres of Karamuramu for 500 acres of Motumako.308 The Native Minister concurred. He informed the Motumako petitioners of the points made by the commissioner and declared that the Crown would not increase its offer of the 100 acres near Galatea.309

Ngati Manawa again rejected this proposal and restated their wish to have the whole 315 acres of the Karamuramu block exchanged for Motumako.310

The Forest Service made an independent inquiry in 1938 into the petitioners' claim that the Crown had cleared valuable timber from the block. It found no evidence that the Service had removed any timber from Motumako after 1911 when the area was proclaimed State forest. The Rotorua conservator maintained that nothing of value had been taken from the block since 1926 when he had taken over, although a small quantity of firewood may have been removed. He did, however, note that he had seen an old timber chute on the south side of the road 'and this was evidently used by someone in extracting timber from the reserve'. He did not know whether this was done by the Prisons Department or by private operators. The conservator maintained that the Maori petitioners had exaggerated the quantity and value of timber on Motumako:

Much of it was merely scrub timbers, and as the total area of the reserve on the south side of the road contains only about 200 acres the bush obviously cannot have been 300 acres. From what I gather it would not exceed 20 acres.3l1

In 1940 the new Under-Secretary of the Native Department, ON Campbell, concluded that, given the petitioners unwillingness to accept the 100 acres exchange offer, nothing could really be done about the Ngati Manawa claim.312 The Forest Service proceeded to plant up the remainder of the block. The Galatea land offer remained on the table in the meantime. In 1948 the Education Department was denied permission to use 15 acres of the Karamuramu block for the extension of the Murupara District High School because the offer to Ngati Manawa remained live.313

308 Commissioner of Crown Lands, to Under-Secretary, Lands, 10 May 1938, MA 1 W2459 5/13/240, NA Wellington 309 Native Minister, to WH Bird, Murupara, 30 June 1938, MA 1 W2459 5/13/240, NA Wellington 310 AT Ngata, to Under-Secretary, Native Department, 15 November 1939, MA 1 W2459 5/13/240, NA Wellington 311 Extract from Conservator of Forests, Rotorua, to Director of Forestry, in Director of Forestry to Under-Secretary, Native Department, 4 July 1938, MA 1 W2459 5/13/240, NA Wellington 312 Under-Secretary, Native Department, to Director of Forestry, 1 May 1940, MA 1 W2459 5113/240, NA Wellington 313 Under-Secretary, Lands, to District Administrative Officer, Education Department, Auckland, 27 September, 1948 & 26 October 1948, ABWN 5095 W5021 7/652 voLl, box 246, NA Wellington

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The settlement of Motumako was raised again in 1949.314 However, neither the Crown nor the Motumako claimants were prepared to alter their positions. The Crown continued to maintain that the offer of 100 acres was just and fair, while the claimants argued that Motumako was worth more than this. Both parties reiterated their positions in 1959 and 1960.315

In 1972, the acting Rotorua conservator, John Canning, reinvestigated the lengthy Motumako saga in some detail. He concluded that the Maori claim to Motumako had little substance. As part of his review, Canning examined the minutes of the 1878 Native Land Court title investigation of Kaingaroa 1. Canning argued that the Ngati Manawa present at the hearing fully understood the map presented to the Court and that they would have spoken up had they believed Motumako was missing from the plan:

Peraniko [Te Hura] was the prime mover in the claim and also Counsel for Ngatimanawa. He had pointed out the boundaries of the block to the Government Surveyors. It is clear from reading the evidence that not only he but all others who gave evidence in the case understood M.L. 4184 which lay before the Court. It is unlikely then that men, with such an understanding of maps and the land, could allow a 500 acre area to be omitted.

Canning challenged several of the Ngati Manawa claims put forward in 1938, including those relating to the extent of timber on the block at the time of sale and the alleged occupation of the reserve by the claimants' tipuna in 1881. With regard to the timber, Canning stated that based on aerial photographs taken in 1940, any bush must have been less than 200 acres in area. Furthermore, he argued that according to his sworn testimony at the 1878 hearing, Peraniko Te Hura of Ngati Manawa had sold the usable timber on Motumako prior to the Crown's purchase of Kaingaroa 1. Again, based on the 1878 Court minutes, Canning argued that Ngati Manawa had ceased to live on the block prior to the investigation. The 'Hau Haus seem to have effectively destroyed the settlement' during the wars of the 1860s and Ngati Manawa had relocated to Galatea. Although Peraniko had returned to the block when peace was made, he had had houses built for his people at Galatea and had moved there himself prior to the 1878 hearing. Canning stated that, 'after reading the evidence it is difficult to see how the Maori claims [of 1938] could succeed.' However, he indicated that the Crown might have a moral obligation to settle the issue given that depth of misunderstanding that had developed over the years:

Any settlement made on the basis of this claim could only be in the way of an ex­gratia payment to placate the deep sense of wrong which has grown up amongst [the petitioners] through a century of misunderstanding.316

314 Under-Secretary, Department of Maori Affairs, to Director-General, Lands, 25 July 1949, ABWN 5095 W5021 7/652 voU, box 246, NA Wellington 315 Minister of Lands to Mr H Bird, 27 May 1959; Minister of Maori Affairs to Mr Ika Pouwhare, 16 March 1960; Mr MD Bird, Secretary, Ngati Manawa Advisory Committee to Minister of Lands, 2 May 1960, ABWN 5095 W5021 7/652 voU, box 246, NA Wellington 316 J Canning, for Conservator of Forests, Rotorua, to Head Office, 19 October 1972, F W3129 6/2/1/2, NA Wellington

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Both Canning and Judge Holland, the two individuals who researched the issue in greatest depth between the 1920 and 1970s, concluded that the Motumako petitioners had no legal claim to the reserve. However, they shared a feeling that the Crown was under some moral obligation to settle the issue.

In 1973, in response to further representations from Ngati Manawa, Matiu Rata, the Minister of Maori Affairs, wrote to the Minister of Lands about the length of time it was taking to resolve the situation. He argued that given the long delay the Crown ought to be more generous in its approach to the Maori claimants:

The Ngati Manawa tribe is still pressing for settlement of their claim and as it is approaching a century since the original sale, I feel that the time has come to bring the matter to a satisfactory end. In order to do this, I think it is up to the Crown to take a generous view of the situation by making an offer of land that will be acceptable.

Mr Rata asked his colleague to carry out 'an immediate investigation' of possible Crown areas that could be offered to Ngati Manawa to help resolve the situation. The Minister stressed the need for generosity in any dealings with the Maori claimants: 'I do not think we should be too obsessed by values or areas, the important thing is to be generous rather than cheeseparing' .317 The Lands Department subsequently carried out a new valuation of Motumako which determined the reserve to have a capital value of $30,900.318 On the basis of the new valuation, the Minister of Lands informed Ngati Manawa that the Crown was prepared to offer an area of 1354 acres in exchange for Motumako.319

Despite this offer, the issue remained unresolved until 1981. As seen below, the Motumako settlement became intertwined with the fate of the Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 blocks during the 1960s and 1970s.

5.6.4 WhirinakilMotumako negotiations 1969-1975

On 8 March 1969, prior to a proposed formal meeting of assembled owners, Crown representatives met with a number of the Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 owners to discuss the following issues:

1. That Motumako reserve be introduced to these proposals in exchange for the areas already purchased by the Crown.

2. That the Crown join with the Maori owners in amalgamating the existing Maori blocks and repartitioning them into Maori and Crown Land.

3. That the Forest Service take over a lease for afforestation purposes of either the existing Maori Blocks or the exchange area.

4. The possibility of some blocks desiring an exchange in one area, or one proposal, and other blocks desiring an alternative.

317 Minister of Maori Affairs to Minister of Lands, 26 September 1973, ABWN 5095 W5021 7/652 vo1.2, NA Wellington 318 Director-General, Lands to Minister of Lands, 28 June 1973, ABWN 5095 W5021 7/652 vo1.2, NA Wellington 319 Minister of Lands, to Mr MD Bird, Secretary, Ngati Manawa Advisory Committee, Rotorua, 1973, ABWN 5095 W5021 7/652 vo1.2, NA Wellington

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5. The legal access problem existing to the present Maori Lands where a lease for farming purposes is desired by some owners [the block had no legal access].

No firm conclusions were reached at this meeting.32o

Officials from the Lands and Survey Department, the Maori Affairs Department and the New Zealand Forest Service Head Office also discussed the propositions listed above independently of the 4B2 owners. The Forest Service considered that, 'any agreement to use the Crown's purchased shares in Whirinaki' to solve the Motumako dispute 'would be quite unsatisfactory' .321

In addition to discussing the five propositions, the officials considered difficulties that had arisen regarding the wording of the Crown's proposed exchange resolutions. The District Officer of Maori Affairs did not, for technical reasons, consider the 1968 resolutions approved by the Board of Maori Affairs to be satisfactory for confirmation by the Maori Land Court. B Briffault of the Lands Department summarised the problem:

Maori Affairs Department consider there is no provision to exchange undefined shares in Maori land for shares in Crown Land. Section 189 Maori Affairs Act provides for the exchanging of undefined interests in Maori Land for Crown Land. Section 261 of that act provides for the exchange for Crown Land for Maori Land, and also provides that a resolution by a meeting of owners as confirmed by the Court is sufficient evidence of the owners' agreement. Section 315 of that act cites the various resolutions which may be confirmed by the court and there is no provision for the court to confirm a resolution exchangin~ Maori interests in a block for any other land or interests. [Emphasis in original]. 22

Following discussion of the five propositions listed above, and the problems with the exchange resolutions, the officials reached the following conclusions:

1. There is only one proposal which we wish to put to the owners and that is to remove them from the Maori Land either by exchange or purchase.

2. That we cannot deal with interest in the land but only the whole of the land at any meeting of assembled Owners.

3. That we should only offer one exchange area which is the area adjacent to the Waikare-o-Moana roadway.

4. That any proposal to lease the land to the New Zealand Forest Service should come from the owners by way of the Maori Trustee, and that the afforestation of the existing area should only be a last resort.

5. That at any meeting we should [accept] the exchange of all, or any of the Blocks.

320 Note for file, B Briffault, Maori Land Division, Hamilton, 25 March 1969, MA W2459 5/5/101, NA Wellington. Commissioner of Crown Lands to Director-General, Lands, 10 March 1969, AAMX W3529 box 322/284 vol.1, NA Wellington. 321 Note for file, B Briffault, Maori Land Division, Hamilton, 25 March 1969, MA W2459 5/5/101, NA Wellington 322 Note for file, B Briffault, Maori Land Division, Hamilton, 25 March 1969, MA W2459 5/5/101, NA Wellington

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6. That consideration could be given to offering an area adjacent to the exchange area and satisfaction of Motumako, or the offer of the whole of section 1 Block 5 Galatea and satisfaction of Motumako provided that that Section was bought [sic] under part XXIV Maori Affairs Act, and that Maori Affairs Department were in a position to immediately commence

323 development thereon.

Crown attempts to devise suitable exchange proposals and resolutions continued through into the early 1970s, albeit at a slow pace.324 Achieving a settlement was slowed in part by the need t6 consider the implications of a 1956 land use agreement with Urewera Maori involving Whirinaki lands.325 During the early 1950s the Crown had become concerned over the extent of timber milling in the Urewera. It reached an agreement with Urewera Maori whereby the Crown agreed to hold 12,500 acres aside for possible exchange for the affected Maori lands. In return, the Maori landowners agreed to postpone their milling negotiations. The lands set aside by the Crown included parts of Whirinaki 1 section 1, Whirinaki 2 section 2 and Whirinaki 1 section

·4B1A. No action appears to have been taken to implement the exchange considered in 1956 and the agreement appears to have been overlooked for a number of years.326

The Whirinaki blocks set aside under the 1956 agreement included areas later considered for exchange with the Maori-owned shares in the Whirinaki 4B2 blocks. The 1956 agreement was 'rediscovered' during the early 1970s. In 1972 the Commissioner of Crown Lands inquired as to whether the agreement was still in force. 327 Despite the lack of action since 1956, Lands Department officials could not find any evidence that the agreement had lapsed.328 Attempts to establish the status of the agreement delayed the settling the Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 issues. However, on 27 August 1972, the Tuhoe Waikaremoana Trust Board passed a resolution that they no longer required the Crown to hold the 12,500 acres aside. This decision allowed action to proceed regarding proposed exchanges of Crown land for the Maori-owned shares in the Whirinaki 4B2 blocks.329

During the early 1970s the Whirinaki owners continued to seek a settlement of the Motumako grievance as part of any settlement of the 4B2 ownership issues. The Commissioner of Crown Lands noted on 17 December 1971 that the Whirinaki 4B2 owners remained 'insistent that Motumako Reserve lying within Kaingaroa State Forest be compensated in any such dealing.'33o Forestry officials had opposed this suggestion in 1968. In 1971 Maori Land Court officials commented that the question

323 Note for file, B Briffault, Maori Land Division, Hamilton, 25 March 1969, MA W2459 5/5/101, NA Wellington 324 Miscellaneous correspondence, AAMX W3529 box 3 22/284 voU, NA Wellington. 325 Commissioner of Crown Lands, Hamilton, to Director-General, Lands, 29 February 1972, AAMX W3529 box 3 22/284 yoU, NA Wellington 326 Unsigned, undated note for file (1972); copy of 1956 agreement, AAMX W3529 box 3 22/284 yoU, NA Wellington 327 Commissioner of Crown Lands, to Director-General, Lands, 19 January 1972, AAMX W3529 box 322/284 yoU, NA Wellington 328 Director-General, Lands, 26 May 1972, AAMX W3529 box 322/284 yoU, NA Wellington 329 Commissioner of Crown Lands, Hamilton, to Director-General, Lands, 4 September 1972, AAMX W3529 box 3 22/284 yoU, NA Wellington. 330 Commissioner of Crown Lands, Hamilton, to Director-General, Lands, 17 December 1971, AAMX W3529 box 322/284 yoU, NA Wellington

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of the ownership of Motumako would need to settled before it could be incorporated in any land exchange dea1.331 However, there appears to have been a growing feeling, on the part of the Lands Department at least, that action needed to be taken to settle the longstanding Motumako grievance. A 1972 memo from the Director-General of Lands to the commissioner noted that, 'it is time for an earnest endeavor to be made to satisfy the owners concerned'. However, he considered this matter ought to be dealt with independently of any Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 settlement. 332

In 1973 the Lands and Survey Department carne up with a new proposal to settle the problem of joint Crown and Maori ownership of the Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 blocks. The Department, with the approval of the Board of Maori Affairs, proposed to exchange these blocks for the wholly Crown-owned Section 15 Block 1 Ahikereru Survey District (2477 acres). This exchange was to be achieved by the following means:

To achieve this end an application will be made to the Maori Land Court pursuant to section 182 of the Maori Affairs Act 1953 ... to treat the [4B2] blocks ... as a single area of land then to repartition them into two parcels one comprising 2477 acres of what will then be Maori freehold land to be known as Ngatimanawa C and the other parcel comprising 3062 acres 2 roods 16 perches of what will become Crown land to be known as Whirinaki E. ... [also to make an application] under section 438 of the Maori Affairs Act 1953 to vest the resulting Maori freehold land in a trustee or trustees to utilise, exploit and manage with the principal object of granting an afforestation lease without power of sale.333

A 1972 valuation had valued the Maori shares in the 4B2 blocks as follows: 334

Block ....... I Gapitalvalue Maori share Total.shar.es Maori ....... % of Maori

I·:· shatevalue share in

.. block 4B2A $2,000 99.55 199.00 $1,035 50.03 4B2B $5,730 475.87319 771.25 $3,535 61.70 4B2D $4,400 303.1144 638.50 $2,089 47.47 4B2F $7,500 25.4999 38.00 $5,033 67.11 4B2G $6,960 28.89063 29.00 $6,934 99.62 TotalS ··$26;590 ,

" .. $18,626 -=- ~

Action was not taken to implement the 1973 proposal until 1975. This appears to have resulted from the Whirinaki 4B2 block owners' unwillingness to consider any exchange which did not involve the settlement of Motumako.335

331 Commissioner of Crown Lands, to Director-General, Lands, 17 December 1971, AAMX W3529 box 3 22/284 voU, NA Wellington 332 Director-General, Lands, to Commissioner Crown Lands, 7 August 1972, AAMX W3529 box 3 22/284 voU, NA Wellington 333 Proposed Exchange of Crown and Maori Lands, Board of Maori Affairs, 24 July 1973, MA W2459 5/5/101, NA Wellington 334 Case No.73/358, Land Settlement Board, 1973, AAMX W3529 box 3 22/284 voU, NA Wellington 335 Director-General, Lands, to Director-General, Forests, 14 February 1974, AAMX W3529 box 3 22/284 vo!'l, NA Wellington

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On 18 January 1975, the district officer of Maori Affairs met informally with owners in the 4B2 blocks to gain some directions regarding the exchange proposals. The owners appointed a committee to negotiate with the Lands Department for a much larger area than had been offered for the 4B2 blocks and for the settlement of the Motumako grievance (a separate offer of 1354 acres had been made for Motumako). On 22 February 1975, the negotiating committee met with Lands Department officials and declared that they would only accept all of the 5700 acres of 'Area 1', (Whirinaki land directly north of the 4B2 blocks: formerly part of Whirinaki 1 section 1), 'in satisfaction of the Maori interest in Whirinaki 4B2 block and Motumako.' Their justification for this large claim was reported as follows:

the Crown had been responsible for creating remaining Whirinaki blocks as a land locked area, and had further reduced their holding by the purchase of undefined interests in spite of the rejection of the 1966 resolutions to sell to the Crown.336

The Lands Department considered this proposal unreasonable. The Commissioner of Crown Lands informed the Director-General of Lands of the serious, and harsh, implications for the Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 owners should they refuse to settle:

The Whirinaki people will be left as undefined owners with the Crown in the present lands, severed by the two blocks we bought out completely [4B2C, 4B2E]. They will have no legal access and will find the Crown the major individual owner, except 4B2G; at any meetin~ of owners to consider utilisation. They have been made aware of this situation.3

The commissioner advised the Director-General that a counter-offer of no less than 3000 acres for the Whirinaki 4B2 interests should be made to the Maori owners. Although current valuations placed the Maori interests in the blocks at 2477 acres, 3000 acres had been offered in 1969. The commissioner noted that reduction in the area offered had 'disturbed the owners'. If an agreement was to be reached, the offer needed to be raised to the 1969 acreage. He believed that a total of 4354 acres of exchange area would be required in order to satisfy both the Whirinaki 4B2 and Motumako situations.338 On 21 May 1975, the Director-General of Lands informed the commissioner that he should convey a final offer of 4354 acres of Area 1 to the Maori owners for the balance of the Whirinaki blocks and as compensation for Motumako. The Director-General instructed that it should be pointed out to the owners that, 'this is the Crown's final offer' .339

The Committee of Management appointed by the Maori owners in the Whirinaki 4B2 blocks was not impressed with the Crown's 'final offer'. Mr MD Bird explained the owners' position in a letter to the Minister of Maori Affairs and Lands on 16

336 Commissioner of Crown Lands, Hamilton, to Director-General, Lands, 2 April 1975, AAMX W3529 box 322/284 voU, NA Wellington 337 Commissioner of Crown Lands, Hamilton, to Director-General, Lands, 2 April 1975, AAMX W3529 box 322/284 voU, NA Wellington 338 Commissioner of Crown Lands, Hamilton, to Director-General, Lands, 2 April 1975, AAMX W3529 box 3 22/284 voU, NA Wellington 339 Director-General, Lands, to Commissioner Crown Lands, Hamilton, 21 May 1975, AAMX W3529 box 3 22/284 vo1.l, NA Wellington

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September 1975. He informed the Minister that the meeting of owners on 18 January had rejected the Crown's 1973 offer of 2477 acres for their interests. They had then indicated to the Lands Department representative Mr Briffault that a Crown offer of land at a rate of '3 for l' would be considered more favourably. The Crown's counter-offer of 4354 acres was not satisfactory. The owners hoped the Crown would be more cooperative in future. Mr Bird indicated that they were quite willing to wait until this was the case:

In making the [4354 acres] offer the Crown threw in 523 acres. Some progress has been made. However, when we take a close look at the offer, simple mathematics will tell us that it does NOT meet the 3 for 1 put by the people. A further meeting of owners is being called, where I am sure, strong arguments will be made for great Crown cooperation. Failing this, the people are quite happy to return to the status quo. There are many among the Ngati Manawa who will argue very strongly for the retention of their ancestral lands. 340

He also suggested that it was in the Crown's interest to satisfy the owners' claims given its wish to embark upon forestry development in the area:

We are fully aware the Crown looks upon Maori ownership in these blocks as a stumbling block to State Forest operations in that area. The position, therefore, is - if the Crown wants us OUT - then IT must satisfy our just claim. That is where the Whirinaki Blocks submission rests.

The Committee of Management greeted the Crown's offer of 1354 acres as settlement of the Motumako grievance with more warmth. Mr Bird thanked the Minister for the improved offer. He noted that the issue of Motumako had been included in the Whirinaki discussions in order 'to kill two birds with one stone'. However, he indicated that the opinion had changed and it was now thought the Motumako Reserve should be isolated from other negotiations. This matter was to be discussed

f . f 341 at a uture meetmg 0 owners.

In previous years, Crown officials had insisted upon separate solutions to the Motumako and Whirinaki questions. Somewhat ironically, at a time when the owners represented by Mr Bird came to the conclusion this would be the best course, Crown officials now insisted the two problems be resolved through a single solution. On 15 October 1975, the Commissioner of Crown Lands informed the Director-General of Lands that Mr Bird had insisted that both issues be dealt with as one during the original negotiations for the Whirinaki lands. In light of this, the commissioner 'would therefore not recommend that [the] Motumako offer be dealt with separately

d · h Wh" k' l' 342 an pnor to t e mna 1 proposa .

The Minister of Maori Lands explained the benefits of a combined settlement in a letter to Mr Bird dated 4 November 1975. He argued that the that the interests of the

340 MD Bird, Chairman, Committee of Management, to the Minister of Maori Affairs and Lands, 16 September 1975, AAMX W3529 box 3 22/284 yoU, NA Wellington 341 Ibid 342 Commissioner of Crown Lands to Director-General, Lands, 15 October 1975, AAMX W3529 box 322/284 yoU, NA Wellington

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Ngati Manawa owners would best be served if the Whirinaki and Motumako issues were resolved in one exchange package:

Your correspondence with my predecessor indicated that the people did not want to see these matters separated, and Government have attempted to achieve the result for you by providing one area which can be readily utilised. In doing so I have approved the use of all available Crown land in that location, and which is part of the original Whirinaki IB [Whirinaki 1 Section 1] Block claimed as ancestral land by your Tipuna, and with the knowledge that it exceeded the counterpart in both area and value.

In arriving at the acreages for each part of the proposal, their location for title purposes plays a major part. [Any] attempt to separate the areas for practical purposes, would require each to have separate access and would cause a reduction in the acreages to equate Motumako .... You now have the opportunity of acquiring a greater area than the original one and with its own access, without any interference from Government projects which can only be the situation if the

. . d 343 status quo IS retame .

The Minister hoped the owners would take these arguments into consideration at their next meeting. However, the Minister's letter may have arrived too late to have any bearing at the meeting. The owners met on 22 October 1975, a fortnight before the Minister wrote his letter. The negotiating committee rejected the Crown's 'final' offer of 4,354 acres for Whirinaki and Motumako on the grounds that it failed to match the desired 3 to 1 exchange rate. The committee submitted the following proposition to the Commissioner of Crown Lands:

1. Whirinaki 4B2. Retain the status quo. 2. Motumako 'compensation' be used in this way:-

(a) 1,000 acres - for the return of the shares acquired by the Crown in the Whirinaki 4B2 blocks, and, (b) the remaining 354 acres to acquire 354 acres adjacent to the south boundary of Whirinaki 4B2G, to include the Te Tapiri Pa, the last of the Ngati Manawa Pa, in the area. The Pa figured prominently in forestalling the H auh au , under Kereopa, from marching into the Waikato, shortly after the Bishop Volkner incident.

Mr Bird, as Chairman of the committee, added the rider that 'a settlement along the lines pro,E0sed above, would meet with the full approval of the Ngati Manawa people',3 4 This proposal did not, however, meet with the approval of the commissioner. In discussion with the Conservator of Forests at Rotorua, the two officials agreed that the counter-offer would not be accepted.345

343 Minister of Lands to MB Bird, Chairman of the Proprietors, Ngatimanawa Tribal Lands, Rotorua, 4 November 1975, AAMX W3529 box 322/284 vol.1, NA Wellington 344 MD Bird, Chairman, to Commissioner of Crown Lands, Hamilton, 10 November 1975, AAMX W3529 box 322/284 vol.1, NA Wellington 345 Commissioner of Crown Lands to Director-General, Lands, 3 December 1975, AAMX W3529 box 322/284 vol.1, NA Wellington

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5.6.5 The Whirinaki and Motumako settlement 1979-1981

The settlement of the Whirinaki and Motumako issues appears to have been set-aside for some years. In 1979, the registrar of the Maori Land Court called meetings of the Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 owners at Rangitahi Pa, Murupara, to reconsider the Crown's exchange proposals. The owners subsequently passed a unanimous resolution that:

1) The Crown apply to the Court to vest 1354 acres in the Kaingaroa No.1 owners or whatever ancestor it considered appropriate and proper [for the Motumako reserve]

2) That the Crown apply for exchange of 2477 acres of Crown land for the Maori owners' shares in the Ngahuinga blocks.346

However, the proposed Crown applications were not filed with the Court for another two years.

The Ngati Manawa owners grew increasingly impatient with the delay in settling their long-held concerns over the Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 blocks and Motumako. On 11 March 1981, Mr Maurice Bird, the Chairman of the Ngati Manawa Negotiating Committee, wrote to the Minister of Maori Affairs to express the owners' frustrations with the long drawn out Crown negotiations. Mr Bird explained to the Minister that the Crown, as a co-owner of the Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 blocks, had pursued a policy of acquiring the outstanding Maori interests in the land and removing the Maori owners to what he described as 'steep, undeveloped and rugged mountain country which for part, if any, may or may not be suitable for afforestation'. Protracted negotiations with the Lands Department since 1973 had failed to produce any acceptable exchange or settlement proposals. Mr Bird reasserted Ngati Manawa's wish to retain the 4B2 blocks for farming purposes and argued that the matter could be resolved relatively quickly if the Crown was prepared to be more co-operative:

From the outset we have wanted the Crown to vacate the Whirinaki blocks and reach compensation of Motumako. The Crown owns approximately 1000 acres in the Whirinaki Blocks known to us as Ngahuinga and all along we have indicated our refusal to give up these ancestral lands which we consider to be more valuable in the future as farming lands. On the other hand, the Crown has proceeded in offering land we do not want ....

We feel that this frustration has endured too long and could be settled if the Crown takes a more liberal attitude to a problem which should have been resolved with a little co-operation from the Crown.

Mr Bird informed the Minister that as 'a consequence of all this delay and frustration' he would file an application with the Maori Land Court, under section 182 of the Maori Affairs Act, to amalgamate the Ngahuinga Blocks owned jointly by the Crown and the Maori non-sellers. He suggested that the Crown could then be given Motumako in exchange for its interests in the Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 blocks.

346 Copy of minutes of meeting at Rangitahi Pa, Murupara, 21 October 1979; Commissioner of Crown Lands, to Director-General, Lands, 5 February 1980; Commissioner of Crown Lands to Director­General, Lands, 29 April 1981, AAMX W3529 box 322/284 pt 2, NA Wellington

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Motumako had by this time been planted in pine trees as part of the Kaingaroa State Forest on the old Kaingaroa 1 block:

The intention behind the application is to consolidate into one title the shares owned by the Maori owners and the Crown. Once this has been determined by the Court then the Crown can be exchanged out of Ngahuinga and gain absolute title of Motumako and [the] Ngatimanawa people will give up all claim to the

[ ] 347 500 acres of Motumako .

In a second letter, Mr Bird informed the Minister that Ngati Manawa were asking the Crown to exchange interests amounting to 1000 acres in the Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 blocks for the 500 acres of Motumako. However, he explained the discrepancy in the areas to be exchanged on the grounds that, 'the records will show that the Crown acquired its interests in Ngahuinga at a comparatively low valuation, and if [the] application is agreed to by the Crown, the Crown would not be suffering any substantial loss, if any loss at all.'348

It transpired that the Commissioner of Crown Lands had also recently submitted an application to the Court regarding the Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 blocks and Motumako. This was the application submitted to, and approved by, the Maori owners in 1979. Both applications were set down for hearing in the Maori Land Court on 29 May 1981.349

The Lands Department submitted a history of the Motumako and Whirinaki proceedings to the Court. It summarised its proposal to settle the Whirinaki and Motumako issues as follows:

This application seeks first to provide a compensation area situated on Crown Land for Motumako Reserve and to extinguish any title or claim by the descendents of Kaingaroa Number 1 Block to Motumako and second to relocate the remaining non sellers of the Whirinaki Blocks on an area of Crown Land that is more suitable for utilisation by them and to consolidate the Crown area which it is intended to be added to the adjoining State Forest.350

However, shortly before the Maori Land Court hearing to consider the Crown and Maori owners' applications was due to be held, the Forest Service informed the Commissioner of Crown Lands that it recommended that Mr Bird's proposal be accepted on the following conditions:

1) That this Service be granted a roadway over the Whirinaki blocks without further compensation or royalty .... This access is essential for fire and emergency. It may also be required for utilisation at a later date.

347 Maurice Bird, Chairman, Ngahuinga Negotiating Committee, Rotorua, to Minister of Maori Affairs, 11 March 1981, AAMX W3529 box 322/284 pt 2, NA Wellington 348 Maurice Bird, Chairman, Ngahuinga Negotiating Committee, Rotorua, to Minister of Maori Affairs, 23 April 1981, AAMX W3529 box 3 22/284 pt 2, NA Wellington 349 Commissioner of Crown Lands to Director-General, Lands, 29 April 1981, AAMX W3529 box 3 22/284 pt 2, NA Wellington 350 Statement of Evidence, RF Schwass, Divisional Drafting Officer, Lands & Survey Department, Hamilton, 1981, AAMX W3529 box 322/284 pt 2, NA Wellington

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2) Should the owners require legal access it will be granted by means of a roadway shown along the route indicated on the attached map.351

With this advice in hand, and an understanding that the Maori owners supported Mr Bird's application, the commissioner advised the Court that he would withdraw the Crown's application if the Court made orders which were consistent with Mr Bird's application and which provided for the roadway as desired by the Forest Service.352

The Court complied with this advice and issued conditional orders, 'pending filing of the necessary consents'. These consents concerned the need for the Land Settlement Board to agree to the inclusion of three solely Crown-owned blocks in the exchange (Whirinaki 1 sections 4A, 4B2C and 4B2E) and for additional consents associated with the proposed roadway to be filed. 353 These consents were subsequently filed with the Court.354 It was found that the orders made on 29 May 1981 'did not give effect to the intended scheme', and they were redrawn later that year. On 17 November 1981, Judge NF Smith issued the following four final Court orders:355

1) Exchanging the interests of the Crown in Whirinaki 1 section 4A, section 4B2A, 4B2B, 4B2C, 4B2D, 4B2E, 4B2F and 4B2G for the whole of Motumako 'in full settlement of all or any claim of the owners of the said Motumako block to the end that each of the above blocks which were earlier solely owned by the Crown become Maori freehold land.'

2) Amalgamating the Whirinaki 1 section 4 lands listed above under one title to be known as Ngahuinga.

3) Laying out a roadway over Ngahuinga and the Crown lands known as Whirinaki 1 section 1 and Whirinaki 2 section 2.

4) Declaring that, 'no compensation is payable to the owners of Ngahuinga Block in respect of such roadway' .

The Court also directed that all surveys required were to be completed by the Crown h M · 356 at no cost to t e aon owners.

It should be noted that in addition to giving up its interests in the partially purchased Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 blocks, the Crown gave up its interests in three blocks in which it was the sole owner:

351 Conservator of Forests, Rotorua, to Commissioner of Crown Lands, Hamilton, 19 May 1981, AAMX W3529 box 322/284 pt 2, NA Wellington 352 Commissioner of Crown Lands, to Director-General, Lands, 13 June 1981, AAMX W3529 box 3 22/284 pt 2, NA Wellington 353 Extract from Rotorua Native Land Court minute book 200, 29 May 1981, fol 352, MP 72, LINZ, Hamilton. The following consents were required: 1) Land Settlement Board as required by s.182/1953 Maori Affairs Act; 2) Crown Commissioner of Lands for Roadway as required by s.418; 3) NZ Forest Service for Roadway as required by s.418; 4) National Roads Board for Roadway as required s.415 (3)(a); 5) Territorial Authority for Roadway as required s.415 (3) (a): Note for file, DB Prentice, Maori Land Division, Department of Lands and Survey, 3 June 1981, MP 72, LINZ, Hamilton 354 MP 72, LINZ, Hamilton 355 The orders are summarised here. For the full orders see Rotorua Native Land Court minute book 201,17 November 1981, fols 276-278: copy in document bank (LINZ file 6900173 vol.IIl) 356 Copy of Court minutes, Rotorua Native Land Court minute book 201, 17 November 1981, fols 276-278, LINZ 6900173 vol.III

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Block Area Means by which block aCQuired Whirinaki 1 section 4A 281 acres 1899: in lieu of survey costs Whirinaki 1 section 4B2C 171 acres 1965: purchase of undivided Maori interests Whirinaki 1 section 4B2E 186 acres 1966: purchase of undivided Maori interests

The newly amalgamated Ngahuinga block contained a total of 1492 hectares (3683 acres).357 Its ownership comprised the original 28 owners of Kaingaroa 1 and the non-sellers in the Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 blocks. The Land Settlement Board approved the orders as required under section 182 of the Maori Affairs Act 1953.358

The Crown and the Maori owners thus finally reached a settlement over Motumako and the Whirinaki blocks after 60 years of discussion over the Motumako grievance and two decades of negotiations over the Crown's purchase of undivided shares in the Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 blocks.

The Maori owners have retained Ngahuinga. It was vested in trustees under section 438(3) of the Maori Affairs Act 1953 in 1991. In 1999, it was vested in trustees pursuant to section 215 of Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993.359

5.6.6 Whirinaki 1 section 4B2: issues arising

There are three main issues that arise out of the Crown's purchase of interests in the Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 blocks and its attempts to settle the Whirinaki and Motumako grievances:

1. the Crown's purchase of individual interests in communally-owned land; 2. the Crown's lack of flexibility in resolving the ownership of Whirinaki 1

section 4B2 and Motumako; 3. the length of time taken to resolve the Whirinaki and Motumako questions.

As in the case of Whirinaki 1 section 4B1B, the Crown turned to the purchase of individual interests in the 4B2 blocks when assembled owner meetings failed to pass resolutions to sell the blocks to the Crown. In this case, the Crown purchased the interests during the 1960s under Part XXI of the Maori Affairs Act 1953. Section 257 of the legislation entitled the Crown to acquire undivided shares in Maori land, 'or any interests in any such land ... whether any other shares or interests in the land are acquired or not'. The legislation required the Crown to purchase Maori land at or above the government valuation of the land but did not require purchases to be confirmed by the Maori Land Court.360 The Crown used memoranda of transfer as the instruments of alienation. Under section 222 of the 1953 Act, alienors had to sign the document and have their signatures attested to by one of the following: a solicitor of the Supreme Court; justice of the peace; stipendiary magistrate; judge; commissioner; registrar of the Maori Land Court; postmaster; or an authorized Crown

357 CT 48C/363, LINZ Hamilton 358 Approved draft letter, Minister of Lands to Minister of Maori Affairs, 28 July 1981, AAMX W3529 box 322/284 pt 2, NA Wellington 359 CT 48C/363, LINZ Hamilton 360 Sections 260 (1) & 258 (1) Maori Affairs Act 1953

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Figure 11: Ngahuinga (1991)

SOUTH AUCKLAND LAND DISTRICT

Blk.s VII ,_VIII, XI. 8 XII whe.ao S.D.

whakatancz. District 6 Taupo CounTY

Taupo \Whakatan<z County Oisrric.t .

I .,+\

~ s:o~~ Pt.1 Sec. I

VII V!!!

XI XII

Pt. I Se.c. I

Se.c.2

"

Ngahuinga Block &- Roadyvay ...... , ............. _,,----'-, :-' ,-",', -----,

formerly whirinaki No, \ Se.c. 4 I MEA~~~}:..2HTS An~ MET.f1IC

II M.I_ 2J.7..Q.l.:~· ... ::~::,;,:...... . ..... :... .

Delt.: .CR, ....... E::d: .. ) . .1;;8::· ... ,1 .

Source: PI~n in file 6900173, volume 4, LINZ, Hamilton

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officer. Unless the attesting witness stated that the Maori vendor had sufficient command of English to understand the document, a licensed interpreter was required to certify in writing that the vendor understood the nature of the transaction.361 The Memoranda of Transfer used to acquire interests in the Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 blocks met these requirements.362 Section 261(1) of the 1953 Act empowered the Maori Land Court to make orders to give effect to any land exchange agreement reached between the Crown and Maori landholders. Land offered by the Crown had to be of the same, or higher, value than the Maori land concerned. The exchange settlement reached in 1981 fulfilled this requirement.

The Crown's practice of purchasing undivided shares III Maori land has been criticised by a number of historians as facilitating the alienation of increasingly limited areas of Maori land. The Maori Affairs Act 1953, which allowed this type of purchasing, largely reproduced provisions first introduced under the Native Land Amendment Act 1913. The 1913 Act repealed the requirement under the Native Land Act 1909 for the Crown to call meetings of assembled owners to discuss any proposed Crown purchase of land owned by more than 10 people. The Reform Government was concerned that existing legislative provisions had slowed down the alienation of Maori land and inhibited European settlement of Maori 'waste' land. It was thought that Maori-owned large areas of 'useless land' that they ought to sell in order to gain capital to develop their other lands. The Government wanted to be able to purchase this land in order to on-sell it to Pakeha settlers. In 1913 the Under-Secretary of the Native Department complained that meetings of assembled owners often rejected Crown offers to purchase land?63 Tom Bennion has suggested that, 'it was assumed that those opposing resolutions to sell or lease to the Crown were owners interested in making private deals with other parties. In the Crown view, this was speculation' .364

The 1909 Act also required the Crown to have any resolution to sell confirmed by a Maori Land Board, and enabled the Maori Land Court to cut out the interests of dissenting owners. As Bennion has argued, repealing the requirement for the Crown to call meetings of assembled owners meant that:

in one stroke, the Crown acquired the ability to avoid a publicly advertised meeting, and any requirement that it put one proposal for the purchase of a whole block to all owners who might be assembled. It also avoided the confirmation procedure before the land boards, including any orders that the land court might make to partition out the interests of dissenters. Instead the Crown could use its power to purchase undivided interests to steadily buy up shareholders' interests. The only check on its powers were the requirements that the land be bought at the current recorded value under the Valuation Act 1908, and that the Native Land Purchase Board satisfy itself that no Maori would be rendered landless.365

The repeal of this provision also gave the Crown an advantage over private purchasers. The 1913 and 1953 Acts still required private purchasers to call

361 Section 222 Maori Affairs Act 1953 362 Deed 5556 (4B2C); 5563 (4B2E); 5578 (4B2), LINZ, Hamilton 363 AJHR, 1913, G-9, p.2, cited in Bennion, p.ll 364 Bennion, p.ll 365 Bennion, pp.1l-12

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assembled owner meetings where the land was owned by more than 10 shareholders.366

The Crown embarked upon the purchase of undivided interests in Whirinaki 1 section 4B1B in the 1920s, and in Whirinaki 1 sections 4B2A to 4B2G in the 1960s, following the rejection by assembled owner meetings of its offers to purchase the various blocks. As stated earlier, this process privileged the rights of individuals over the group and undermined traditional Maori communal ownership of land. However, it should be noted that, although it was fully entitled to continue the practice, the Crown agreed to stop the purchase of undivided shares in the 4B2 blocks in the late 1960s at the request of the non-selling owners.

The Crown's eagerness to acquire the 4B1 and 4B2 blocks, despite the clear wishes of some owners to retain the land, is open to question given the extent of Maori land loss during the twentieth century. In 1920 the Under-Secretary of the Native Department, CB Jordan, carried out an inventory of Maori lands. Jordan calculated that just 19 acres per head of useable land remained to North Island Maori. Jordan concluded, 'instead therefore, of there being a huge area of Native land available for general settlement, it would seem that there is barely sufficient for the requirements of the Natives themselves.'367 However, Jordan's calculations do not appear to have greatly influenced Crown purchase activities, as seen in its pursuit of the 4B1B and 4B2 blocks.

Alan Ward has argued that, '[g]iven the limited areas of land remaining in Maori hands [after 1910] and the burgeoning population, any alienations at this time must be regarded as likely to infringe the Crown's Treaty obligation of active protection.'368 Ward has criticised the legislative provisions that facilitated the alienation of Maori land as contributing to an increasingly desperate situation:

At bottom was the issue of whether individual Maori or sections of Maori should ever have been given the power to alienate the freehold of what had been a tribal patrimony. In the light of the almost unanimous demands of the Maori leadership before 1900 and the limited areas of land still remaining in Maori ownership, a strong case can be argued in Treaty terms that, even if it was the wish and inclination of individuals and small groups to sell the freehold, the duty of active protection of the Maori people at large meant that sales of the freehold should have been approved very rarely, if at all, after 1900, and then only on the basis of full hapu involvement. [ ... ] When Ngata finally secured finance to launch the development schemes from 1928, there was precious little good land left on which to start them.369

The Whirinaki 1 section 4B 1 and 4B2 grantees were among many whose hold on their lands was undermined as a result of the Crown's pursuit of an aggressive land purchase policy during decades when it should have been very apparent that Maori had retained very little of their ancestral lands. The Crown's pursuit of the 4B2

366 Section 215 (1) Maori Affairs Act 1953 367 Cited in Ward, Overview, vo1.2, p.387 368 Ward, Overview, yoU, p.35 369 Ward, Overview, vo1.2, pp.395-396

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blocks during the 1960s through the purchase of individual interests is of particular concern given the very limited amount of land remaining to Maori by this time. The Crown was not unaware of this land loss. At the assembled owners meeting called in 1966 to consider Crown and private purchase offers, 4B2 owner Henry Bird declared his opposition to the sale on the grounds that Ngati Manawa 'was practically landless,.370 The Crown proceeded to purchase individual interests in the blocks regardless. It should not be forgotten, however, that it returned these interests to the non-selling owners in 1981.

The Crown's pursuit of the 4B2 blocks, and its reluctance to return Motumako to N gati Manawa, can be justified to some extent on the grounds of public interest. Forestry officials were genuinely concerned during the 1960s and 1970s over the fire risks posed by isolated privately owned blocks surrounded by Crown forest lands. However, these concerns might have been alleviated sooner had the Crown taken a more open handed approach regarding the ownership of the blocks. The Crown and the 4B2 non-sellers reached a series of impasses between the 1960s and 1981. It needs to be asked whether the Crown could have come to some sort of accommodation with the owners which dealt with the question of fire risk but which did not require the Maori owners to vacate the land. Greater flexibility on the part of the Crown during these decades may have resulted in an earlier settlement that suited both parties.

In 1981, the Crown, the 4B2 non-sellers and the Motumako claimants reached a settlement regarding the Crown's purchase of interests in Whirinaki and the Maori claim to Motumako. The settlement, largely devised by the Maori 4B2 non-sellers, appears to have been a satisfactory one. In return for giving up their claim to Motumako, the Motumako claimants and the 4B2 non-sellers received the Crown's interests in the 4B2 blocks, including two blocks bought outright by the Crown and one block acquired in lieu of survey liens in 1899 (Whirinaki 1 section 4A). It is by no means clear that Motumako was intended to be set aside as a reserve when Kaingaroa 1 was sold. The Crown, however, acknowledged that the question was not clear-cut and, from the 1930s, was prepared to compensate the claimants for their alleged loss of land. The length of time taken to settle the Motumako grievance is of concern, as is the time taken to settle the ownership of the 4B2 blocks. The delay in settling these issues hindered effective utilisation of the blocks by either the Maori owners or the Crown. However, the parties did ultimately reach a settlement that appears to have satisfactorily resolved the Motumako grievance and the 4B2 non­sellers' wish to retain one of the last remaining portions of their ancestral lands.

5.7 Conclusion: Twentieth century Crown purchasing

The Crown acquired permanent ownership of 3281 acres of the Whirinaki block during the twentieth century: Whirinaki 1 section 4B1A (1533 acres) and Whirinaki 1 section 4B1B (1749 acres). Both alienations were carried out according to the legislative provisions of the day. As noted in the text above, the sale of 4B1A resulted from the owners' desire to secure capital to develop other lands. In this case, a group of willing Maori sellers had their interests cut out of the parent block by the

370 Minutes of meeting, 6 August 1966, AAMX W3529 box 3 22/284 voU, NA Wellington

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Native Land Court in order to sell a defined area to the Crown. This alienation differs from subsequent alienations in that there was a clear group of willing sellers who initiated and organized the sale of the land to the Crown. It was not a case of the Crown pursuing isolated undivided interests in the land and forcing partition of the land on unwilling owners. In the case of 4B1B, the owners appeared willing to sell during the early 1920s, although some later changed their minds on the grounds that the price was too low. These owners ultimately accepted other lands in exchange for their interests in the block. Without a detailed study of prices paid for similar lands it is difficult to determine whether the prices paid for the two blocks were fair, or were at market rates. However, both blocks were acquired at or above their government valuation as required under the era's legislation.

The Crown's acquisition of the 4B1A and 4B1B blocks, and its determined pursuit of the 4B2 blocks, may be open to question given the large scale Maori land losses of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. However, the Crown acquired at least one of these blocks with the consent of all owners (4B1A), and reached what appear to be satisfactory settlements with the non-selling owners in the remaining blocks. In all cases, the Crown acted in accord with the legislative provisions of the day.

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Chapter VI

Public works takings

6.1 Introduction

The Maori-owned Whirinaki blocks were not significantly affected by takings under public works legislation. Seven blocks had areas taken for public works purposes. None of these involved large areas of land and the takings appear to have had the consent of the owners. Two cases involved the gifting of land to the Crown for the purposes of a school site and a public health nurse's cottage. Public works legislation was used as an administrative mechanism to facilitate the transfer of the gifted areas to the Crown.371 Additional land was taken for the school in later years with the consent of the owners who were compensated for their loss. Two blocks had small areas of land taken for roading in 1947, but this land was returned to the owners in 1949. Land was taken in 1958 and in 1967 for a sewage treatment site. The owners were compensated in 1966 and 1968 for the loss of these areas.372

Block Total Area Year Purpose Compensation! area taken·· ···return··

(a.r.p.) .... . .... ... . ....

1 sec. 2F 330.0.00 6.0.00 1911 School site To be returned when no lor!E.er needed.

1 sec. 2F2C 110.2.16 12.0.36 1960 School site Compensation 1965 1.3.25 1967 Compensation 1967

1 sec. 2F1 0.1.00 0.1.00 1937 Nurse's cottage site Compensation through land exchange 1977

2 sec. 3B1 503.0.00 2.0.22 1947 Roading Returned 1949 2 sec. 3B3B 725.3.15 6.3.04 1 sec.2C 50.2.35 0.1.32 1958 Sewage plant site Compensation 1966 1 sec. 2A 92.3.22 24.3.04 1967 Sewage plant site Compensation 1968

0.0.32 Easement 0.1.14 Public road

A more detailed table summarizing these takings can be found in Appendix 4.

Land gifted to the Crown for a school site in 1911 was taken under the Public Works Act 1908. All other takings were carried out under the Public Works Act 1928. Each taking was proclaimed by the Governor General and published in the New Zealand Gazette.

Two of these public works takings are examined in case studies below. The first case study examines the taking of land from Whirinaki 1 sections 2F and 2F2C for a

371 The land was taken under the Public Works Acts of 1908 and 1928. 372 See Appendix 4 for a summary of the takings for roading and sewage purposes.

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school site. The second case study explores the taking of land from Whirinaki 1 section 2F1 for a public health nurse's cottage.

6.2 Case study 1: Land taken for Rangitahi Native School/District High School

6.2.1 Summary

In 1911, the Maori owners of Whirinaki 1 section 2 gave the Crown five acres of the block for a Native school site, plus an additional 1 acre 3 roods and 4.5 acres for road access. The land was transferred to the Crown by means of a taking by proclamation under the Public Works Act 1908. The Native Land Court ordered that no compensation be paid to the owners. In 1960 the Crown acquired an additional 12 acres and 36.5 perches for the school. This land was formally acquired by proclamation under the Public Works Act 1928. The owners had offered the Crown the land on the understanding that they would receive an undefined area of Crown land near Galatea in return. The exchange was deemed impracticable and the owners received a cash settlement for the land in 1965. In 1967, with the consent of the owners, an additional 1 acre 3 roods and 25.4 perches was taken for the school by proclamation under the Public Works Act 1928. The owners again received a cash settlement in return for the land.

6.2.2 Gifting of land to the Crown 1911

In 1911 the Crown took five acres of Whirinaki 1 section 2 for a school site through the means of a proclamation under the Public Works Act 1908. In contrast to some public works takings, this was a consensual arrangement whereby the owners offered the land to the Crown in return for having schooling provided for local children.

Negotiations to have a school established at Rangitahi, the Maori settlement on Whirinaki 1 section 2, began in the late 1900s. In July 1909, Mr WH Bird of Murupara wrote to the local Insgector of Schools to press the case for a school to be established for local children.3 3 In October 1909, the Secretary for Education informed Mr Bird that the Government had accepted the Maori owners' offer of land for the school and would survey the land. He asked Mr Bird to arrange for a written agreement to be drawn up regarding the gifting of the land to the Crown with properly attested signatures from representatives of the owners attached as proof of their willingness to give the land to the Crown for a school site.374 This signed agreement has not been located. However, Mr Bird enclosed such a document in a letter to the local inspector of schools in December 1909.375 The document was subsequently sent to the Native Department in Wellington?76 In July 1910 the secretary for Education passed the document on to the Under-Secretary for Public Works. He asked the

373 WH Bird, Murupara, to WW Bird (Inspector of Schools), 9 July 1909, BAAA 1001/504a, NA Auckland 374 Secretary for Education, to Mr WH Bird, Murupara, 25 October 1909, BAAA 1001l504a, NA Auckland 375 WH Bird, Murupara, to WW Bird (Inspector of Schools), 17 December 1909, BAAA 1001/504a, NA Auckland: 'I enclose your document signed by Natives of Rangitahi granting the site for School House comprising 5 acres at the place we went to when you were here last'. 376 Note on ibid, 22 December 1909

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Under-Secretary to arrange for a proclamation taking the land for the purposes of a school to be issued. The secretary noted that:

The land is to be made a free gift to the Crown in accordance with the conditions under which Native Schools are established. Enclosed herewith is an agreement to this effect signed by the leading natives interested in the proposal, together with a translation thereof. 377

On 20 March 1911, the governor signed a proclamation taking 5 acres for the Rangitahi Native School and 1 acre 3 roods and 4.5 perches for road access.378 The Native Land Court subsequently ordered that no compensation be paid to the Maori owners for the land gifted for the school and road.379

6.2.3 Attempts to acquire additional land 1950s

By the mid 1950s the Rangitahi Native School had become the Rangitahi Maori District High School. With around 300 pupils it was felt that the school had outgrown its site and the Education Department approached the owners of Whirinaki 1 section 2F2 to see if an additional five acres of land could be acquired (one acre for horticulture and four acres for a playing area). The owners indicated that they did not wish to sell their interests for cash but would consider exchanging the land for suitable land elsewhere.38o The Department subsequently investigated the possibility of exchanging land near Galatea for the Whirinaki owners' interests. It also sought a larger area of land for the school (15 acres) in order to bring it up to approximately 20 acres 'which is the requirement for a post-primary school' .381

Whirinaki 1 section 2F2 was partitioned in 1955.382 On 25 June 1956 Maori Schools Officer JC Preston informed the Commissioner of Crown Lands that the owners of section 2F2C (110 acres 2 roods 16 perches: 18 owners) had indicated that they would be prepared to exchange 15 acres of their block for an education reserve of 315 acres near Galatea (Karamuramu block), 'subject to suitable adjustments either way' .383

Part of this education reserve had already been offered to the Motumako petitioners in settlement of their long-standing grievance.384 This prior offer complicated matters and the proposed Whirinaki exchange was set aside for a time.

377 Secretary of Education to Under-Secretary, Public Works, 19 July 1910, BAAA 100l/504a, NA Auckland 378 New Zealand Gazette, 1911, no 14, p.705 379 Extract from Rotorua Native Land Court minute book, vo1.55, 5 October 1911, fols 346-347, BAAA 1001/507a, NA Auckland 380 WD Adams, Head Teacher, Rangitahi Maori District High School, Murupara, to W Parsonage, Senior Inspector of Maori Schools, Education Department, Auckland, 15 June 1954; District Administrative Officer, Education, to Commissioner of Works, Ministry of Works, 9 July 1954; Rangitahi District School Committee to Minister of Education, 10 September 1955, BAAA 1001/506d, NA Auckland 381 JC Preston, Maori Schools Officer, to Resident Officer, Department of Maori Affairs, Hamilton, 25 June 1956, BAAA 1001/507a, NA Auckland 382 Partition Order, 3 May 1955, Waiariki MLC BOP 2445A 383 JC Preston, Maori Schools Officer, to Commissioner of Crown Lands, Hamilton, 25 June 1956, BAAA 100l/507a, NA Auckland 384 Minister of Education to Rangitahi District High School Committee, 14 October 1955, BAAA 100l/507a, NA Auckland

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In February 1957, with the agreement of the local people, the Rangitahi Maori District High School was closed as a Maori school and reopened under the control of the South Auckland Education Board.385 The school was renamed Rangitahi District High School. Murupara had grown with the development of the timber industry and a new school had been built in the town to cater for the influx of timber workers and their children. The Education Department felt that having the Education Board administer both the new school and the old Maori school would enhance educational planning and management.386 In 1955 a Committee of Maori Education had made the following recommendation regarding this type of re-classification of Maori schools:

That where the Maori people have given the land on which the Maori School is situated and the school is to be handed over to an Education Board, either the land should be at that stage purchased from the Maoris, or if they prefer they should be given a further assurance that when the land is no longer required it will be handed back to the Maori people.

387

The recommendation had been adopted as Crown pOlicy.388 At a public meeting held to discuss the handing over of the old school to the Board, the Chairman of the School Committee, Mr H Bird, raised the question of compensation for the land on which the school was built. Education Department files held in the Wellington and Auckland branches of Archives New Zealand do not contain details of how a settlement was reached on this question. However, the Secretary of Maori Affairs informed the Director of Education in 1958 that the Maori owners of the donated land had agreed to its continued use for school purposes 'on the understanding that it will revert to them or their successors when no longer required for school use.'389

Negotiations to acquire extra land for the Rangitahi school continued into 1960. In November 1958, land purchase officer JD Walton informed the District Commissioner of Works that the owners had agreed to provide an additional 11.8 acres for the school provided they received land near Galatea in exchange. He suggested that the land for the school be taken by proclamation. The Maori Land Court could then be applied to award compensation 'by vesting of an area of land to be fixed by agreement with the owners and Lands Department.'39o A notice of intention to take the land by proclamation was duly issued in 1959. However, the mechanism chosen to transfer the land from the Maori owners to the Crown disturbed

385 District Superintendent of Education to VH Meston, Rangitahi Maori District High School, 26 September 1956; District Administrative Officer (Education) to Commissioner of Crown Lands, Hamilton, 24 May 1957, BAAA 1001l507a, NA Auckland. Description of public meeting concerning handing over old school to South Auckland Education Board, Rotorua Post, undated, MA 1 21/4/36, NA Wellington 386 Director of Education, Wellington, to Col. Bennett, Maori Affairs Department, 3 August 1955, MA 1 2114/36, NA Wellington 387 Cited in District Administrative Officer (Education), to Commissioner of Crown Lands, Hamilton, 24 May 1957, BAAA 1001l507a, NA Auckland 388 District Administrative Officer (Education), to Commissioner of Crown Lands, Hamilton, 24 May 1957, BAAA 1001/507a, NA Auckland 389 Secretary for Maori Affairs, to Director of Education, 13 February 1958, BCDQ A7391703a, NA Auckland 390 JD Walton, Land Purchase Officer, Ministry of Works, Hamilton, to District Commissioner of Works, Hamilton, 12 November 1958, BCDQ A7391703a, NA Auckland

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some Ngati Manawa. On 11 December 1959, a Ngati Manawa deputation met the Prime Minister, W Nash, to discuss a number of issues, including the use of public works legislation to take land for the high school:

Through the Public Works Act an area has been acquired for extension of the college grounds, an Act that is hateful to my people. I do not think the acquiring of land through the Act, is a just reward for that loyalty you have just heard about. . .. That Act has been applied to our lands, although promises have been made by ministers of the Crown. The late Mr Fraser promised that the Act would never be applied to Ngatimanawa lands and with regard to the school grounds that promise was made. Today we find that promise broken. We want you, Sir, to look into this and give us a fair deal - that is all we ask - that is, the Public Works Act, hateful to us, should be lifted from our lands.391

The Minister of Maori Affairs inquired into the matter and was informed by the Minister of Education that it was the administrative procedure used to acquire the land that had caused concern, rather than the taking of the land itself:

Actually the land is being acquired by consent of Mrs Emery who acting on behalf of her two sisters and a sister in law offered the required 11.8 acres in exchange for Crown Land at Fort Galatea .... The notice of intention to take the land by Proclamation to which the Ngatimanawa people object is merely the administrative procedure necessary for acceptance of Mrs Emery's offer. 392

An additional 12 acres 0 roods and 36.5 perches was subsequently taken from Whirinaki 1 section 2F2C and added to the school site by proclamation under the Public Works Act 1928 on 21 April 1960.393

Having taken additional land for the school site in this way, the Crown turned to the question of compensating the affected owners. Although the figure of 315 acres of the Galatea education reserve had been mentioned in previous negotiations, the Crown and the Maori owners had never formally settled the question of just how much land the Whirinaki owners were to receive as compensation. It soon became apparent that the Maori owners and Crown officials had different expectations regarding this issue. On 22 April 1960, Mr Henry Bird wrote to the Minister of Maori Affairs explaining that the owners of the Whirinaki land had expected to receive around 300 acres of the Karamuramu block near Galatea in exchange for their interests. Mr Bird asserted that Crown officials had verbally agreed to this in 1957:

Before the Rangitahi District High School was handed over to the South Auckland Education Board as a Public School for both Pakeha and Maori children, it was agreed verbally by the officers of the Education Department, the officers of the South Auckland Education Board, the members of the School Committee and the officers of the Maori Affairs Department, on the request of Mrs Emery, on behalf of the owners of Whirinaki No.1 Section, that the 300

391 Minutes, Deputation to the Prime Minister W Nash by the Ngati Manawa People, 11 December 1959, BCDQ A7391703a, NA Auckland 392 Minister of Education to Minister of Maori Affairs, 27 January 1960, BCDQ A7391703a, NA Auckland 393 New Zealand Gazette, 1960, no 26, p.517

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acres of land known as Karamuramu, a former school-site ... be given over to them in exchange for 15 acres which the Auckland Education Board required to enable them to contain the future development of the Rangitahi District High School ...

At the time of the meeting to discuss the change over from a Maori School to a Board School ... everyone concerned [was] so happy with the help and co­operation of the Maori people more especially the valuable help and co-operation of Mrs Emery that it was virtually promised there and then that she would have her request granted. 394

However, neither the Auckland branch of the Education Department nor the Ministry of Works (which conducted negotiations on the Education Department's behalf) agreed with this version of events. In response to an inquiry from the Commissioner of Crown Lands regarding Mr Bird's claims, an Education Department official declared that his Department had never agreed to 'an exchange of areas without suitable adjustments being made'. The Education Department agreed with Ministry of Works officials who asserted that only an area of equal value of the old Maori school site was to be given in exchange. 395 The Department of Lands, which had authorized the use of the Karamuramu block for exchange purposes, supported this stance. CF Skinner of the Department informed the Minister of Maori Affairs that he could not agree to the exchange of 300 Karamuramu acres for the 15 Whirinaki acres taken because part of the Karamuramu block might be required to settle the Motumako issue.396 A memorandum from the Secretary for Maori Affairs to the Director of Education, dated 13 February 1958, further supported the suggestion that land was to be exchanged on a valuation basis. The memo included minutes of a meeting held with the Marunui family in 1958:

The Marunui family put up a proposition: the members are prepared to exchange on a valuation basis 15 acres of their interest in Whirinaki No.1 Section 2F for an area in the Native School site of 315 acres situated in Section 1 Block V Galatea Survey District generally known as Fort Galatea. [Emphasis added.]397

The question of compensating the Maori owners appears to have come to an abrupt halt at this point. The Education Department file on the proposed exchange falls silent on the issue between 1960 and 1964.398

394 HT Bird, Murupara, to Minister of Maori Affairs, 22 April 1960, BCDQ A739!703a, NA Auckland 395 Commissioner of Crown Lands, Hamilton, to District Administrative Officer, Department of Education, Auckland, 4 August 1960; TC Brooks, District Executive Officer, Education Department, Auckland, 15 August 1960, BCDQ A739!703a, NA Auckland 396 CF Skinner, Office of the Minister of Lands, to Minister of Maori Affairs, 27 September 1960, BCDQ A739!703a, NA Auckland 397 Copy of minutes of meeting enclosed with memo from Secretary for Maori Affairs to Director of Education, 13 February 1958, BCDQ A739!703a, NA Auckland 398 BCDQ A739!703a, NA Auckland

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6.2.4 Settlement 1965

In 1964, the Education Department approached local Maori about acqUInng an additional area of land for a new access road to the school. The owners were willing to let the Department have a small area for roading but stated that they expected to be paid for this and for the area taken under the Public Works Act in 1960.399

The question of compensating the Whirinaki 1 section 2F2C owners for the taking of land in 1960 came before the Maori Land Court on 27 May 1965. Although the Maori owners had originally sought land in exchange for their interests, their lawyers and Crown officials agreed that this was not practicable and a cash settlement was agreed to. Valuations carried out for the Ministry of Works and the Maori owners valued the land taken at £1095 and £1055 respectively. The Crown agreed to pay £1095 plus interest at 5 percent from the date of proclamation (approximately £275). The Court advised the Maori owners to accept the offer and ordered the Crown to pay an additional £17 for the valuation undertaken for the Maori owners, 'plus other reasonable costs'. The Crown representative agreed to this and suggested the Crown pay 25 guineas for legal costs. Henry Bird and Panapa Taingarue, representatives of the Maori owners, agreed that the Crown offer was a 'fair one' and that the matter should be concluded. The Court made the following award of compensation:

£1095 plus a further award by way of interest to £275 to be paid to the Maori Trustee and distributed by him to the original owners of Whirinaki 1 section 2F2C or their successors in that title. The Crown agrees to pay the Maori owners' valuer's fee of £17.9.0 and 25 guineas legal costs. Both these sums to be paid by the M.O.W to Messrs Duncan & Bennett, Solicitors, Rotorua.400

A total of £1413 14s Od was subsequently paid to the owners as compensation for the taking of 12 acres and 36.5 perches in 1960.401

In 1967 an additional area of Whirinaki 1 section 2F2 (1 acre 3 roods 25.4 perches) was taken by proclamation under the Public Works Act 1928 for tennis courts for the secondary school.402 The Maori owners agreed to the taking of the land in this way provided the question of compensation was promptly attended to.403 The owners received $1,308.10 compensation that same year.404

399 File note, 1964, BCDQ A7391703a, NA Auckland 400 Extract from Rotorua Native Land Court minute book 130, 27 May 1965, fols 298-302, in BCDQ A7391703a, NA Auckland 401 WS Hookway, for Superintendent of Education, to District Commissioner of Works, Hamilton, 1 July 1965, BCDQ A7391703a, NA Auckland 402 New Zealand Gazette, 1967, no 13, p.303 403 JD Walton, Land Purchase Officer, Ministry of Works, Hamilton, to District Commissioner of Works, Hamilton, 8 February 1966; Rangitahi College Board of Governors to Regional Superintendent, Department of Education, Auckland, 28 October 1964, BCDQ A7391703a, NA Auckland 404 JD Walton, Land Purchase Officer, Ministry of Works, Hamilton, to District Commissioner of Works, Hamilton, 8 September 1967; New Zealand Gazette, 1967, p.303; District Commissioner of Works, Hamilton to Maori Trustee BCDQ A7391703a, NA Auckland

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6.2.5 Issues arising

The taking of land from Whirinaki 1 sections 2F and 2F2C for a school site under public works legislation does not appear to raise major Treaty concerns. The Maori owners consented to these takings and were compensated for the land taken in the 1960s. In 1959 some owners criticised the Crown's use of public works legislation to take additional land for the school site but they did not dispute the taking itself.

Two issues that may be of concern are the apparent failure of Crown officials to reach a specific understanding with the Maori owners before the Crown took additional land for the school in 1960, and the length of time taken to compensate the owners. The owners and the Crown appear to have had different expectations regarding the amount of compensation the owners were to receive. This misunderstanding could have been avoided, and the question of compensation settled more promptly, had the Crown presented the owners with a formal written compensation offer before it took the land.

6.3 Case study 2: Land taken for district nurse's cottage

6.3.1 Summary

In 1937, the Maori owners of Whirinaki 1 section 2F donated a quarter-acre of land (Whirinaki 1 section 2F1) to the Department of Health for a site for a district nurse's cottage. The land was to be returned to the owners if and when it was no longer needed for this purpose. In the late 1960s the nurse's cottage was relocated to a site in Murupara. During the next few years the old site was informally incorporated into the grounds of the neighbouring Rangitahi District High School. In 1977 the section was offered back to the owners. However, they agreed to take another piece of land in its place and Whirinaki 1 section 2F1 was acquired by the Education Department as a permanent part of the school grounds.

6.3.2 Crown acquisition of Whirinaki 1 section 2F1

On 14 July 1937 the Maori Land Court partitioned Whirinaki 1 section 2F into two blocks with the intention that section 2F1 (1 rood) would be transferred to the Crown to provide a site for a district nurse's cottage. The owners had agreed to donate the quarter-acre section for the cottage with the proviso that the land be returned to them if and when it was no longer required for this purpose. At the partition hearing the Court awarded ownership of 2F1 to one owner in order to facilitate the transfer of the land to the Department of Health. The Department was to pay all legal and survey costS.4

05 The Court minutes recorded that the area was 'to be gifted but if it is no

longer required for the nurse it should be returned to the donor' .406

405 Director-General of Health to Assistant Under-Secretary, Public Works, 20 October 1941; File note, 21 March 1942, AAQB W3950 24/2669, NA Wellington 406 Cited in Registrar, Native Land Court, Rotorua, to Under-Secretary Native Department, 13 April 1942, AAQB W3950 24/2669, NA Wellington

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The Department of Health erected a nurse's cottage on the site in 1938.407 However, it does not appear to have taken action to have the land formally transferred to the Crown until 1941. It is not clear what caused this delay.

The Department of Health appears to have initially attempted to gain formal title to the land without making use of public works legislation. The Assistant Under­Secretary of Public Works queried this approach on 27 November 1941. In a letter to the Director-General of Health, the assistant Under-Secretary noted that the usual procedure followed when government departments required land for public works was for them to ask the Public Works Department to take title to the land under the Public Works Act. In this case, 'apparently the chief surveyor was instructed by you to prepare a land transfer plan for the purpose of enabling instructions to be given to the Crown Solicitor to take title by transfer' .408 This unorthodox procedure had come to the attention of the Public Works Department when the Health Department asked it to complete the transfer of the land to the Crown and to resolve a problem that had arisen regarding the siting of the cottage on the block. The survey carried out by the Lands Department had revealed that the cottage had been built partly on Whirinaki 1 section 2F1 and partly on the access road to the neighbouring Rangitahi Maori School. A fence had been built down the middle of the legal road reserve and building staff had mistakenly assumed this was the boundary line. 409 The assistant Under-Secretary suggested to the Director-General of Health that the best way to resolve this unusual situation would be for Whirinaki 1 section 2F1 to be taken by proclamation under the Public Works Act and for the affected road to be closed. When the Native Land Court was applied to confirm the transaction under section 104 of the Public Works Act, the Public Works Department would ask that, 'a nil award' be made' on condition that the land is revested when no longer required' .410

Whirinaki 1 section 2F1 was subsequently taken by proclamation under the Public Works Act 1928 on 22 February 1943. The affected piece of road (19.8 perches) was closed at the same time under section 12 of the Land Act 1924.411 As required under section 104 of the Public Works Act 1928, the Public Works Department applied to the Native Land Court to assess whether compensation was due to the Maori owners. On 30 June 1943 the Court issued a nil compensation award, 'subject to the said land being returned to the Native owners when no longer required for a Nurses cottage' .412

407 Director-General of Health to Assistant Under-Secretary, Public Works, 27 June 1941, AAQB W3950 24/2669, NA Wellington 408 Assistant Under-Secretary, Public Works, to Director-General, Health, 27 November 1941, AAQB W3950 24/2669, NA Wellington 409 Director-General of Health to Assistant Under-Secretary, Public Works, 27 June 1941; Assistant Under-Secretary, Public Works, to Director-General, Health, 4 August 1941, AAQB W3950 24/2669, NA Wellington 410 Assistant Under-Secretary, Public Works, to Director-General, Health, 2 April 1942, AAQB W3950 24/2669, NA Wellington 411 New Zealand Gazette, 1943, no 7, pp.124, 125 412 Extract from Rotorua Native Land Court minute book 93, fo1.263, AAQB W3950 24/2669, NA Wellington

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6.3.3 Removal of nurse's cottage, compensation of donors

In the late 1960s the nurse's cottage was removed from Whirinaki 1 section 2Fl to a new site in Murupara. The original site had suffered 'constant flooding' due to its low-lying position and it was felt that this was likely to have a damaging effect on the cottage and its occupants.413 The old site was not immediately returned to the donors and was accidentally included in the Rangitahi College playing fields when the school renewed its boundary fences in 1969 or 1970.414 The Education Department wished to retain the land. In July 1971, Ministry of Works land purchase officer GF Grant advised the District Commissioner of Works that the land should be offered back to the beneficiaries of the donor in accord with the terms of the original gift. The Education Department could then negotiate to purchase the land.415 The Commissioner of Works interpreted the terms of the gift slightly differently. He suggested that the land could be transferred to the Education Department if the beneficial owners approved and if they were compensated:

I have perused myoId records with regard to the land on which the public health nurse's cottage was built ... Nil compensation was assessed by the Maori Land Court with the consent of the Under-Secretary for Public Works on conditions that when the land was no longer required for a public health nurse's cottage it was to be returned to the owner ...

This arrangement is not strictly a gift of land, but in my view constitutes the Crown a trustee and creates a beneficial interest in the land. It is open to the Crown to set the land apart for some purpose other than a public health nurse's cottage, at least with the concurrence of the beneficiary and compensation for the loss of the beneficial interest would then be paid. In any event there is some beneficial interest in compensation and no need to formally revest the land in the owner.

The Commissioner directed that no formal action be taken for disposal of the site but that the District Land Purchase Officer 'seek to settle compensation for setting apart for education purposes. ,416

Little effective action appears to have been taken to settle the future of the land for several more years. The beneficial owners in Whirinaki 1 section 2Fl may have resisted the suggestion that the land did not need to be returned to them before being transferred to the school. In 1977, Whirinaki 1 section 2Fl was revested in the owners. They subsequently expressed their willingness to exchange the section for a residential section in Murupara valued at $3800.417

.

413 Deputy Director-General, Department of Health, to Commissioner of Works, 23 November 1967; Commissioner of Works to Director-General of Health, 9 April 1969, AAQB W3950 24/2669, NA Wellington 414 Deputy Director-General, Department of Health, to Commissioner of Works, 8 September 1970, AAQB W3950 24/2669, NA Wellington 415 GF Grant, Senior Land Purchase Officer, Ministry of Works, Hamilton, to District Commissioner of Works, Hamilton, 21 July 1971, AAQB W3950 24/2669, NA Wellington 416 Commissioner of Works, Wellington, to District Commissioner of Works, Hamilton, 29 September 1971, AAQB W3950 24/2669, NA Wellington 417 BH Turner, Assistant Land Purchase Officer, Ministry of Works and Development, Hamilton, to District Commissioner of Works, Hamilton, 19 September 1977, BCDQ A739/703a, NA Wellington

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6.3.4 Issues arising

The Crown's use of public works legislation as an administrative mechanism to acquire land gifted by Maori is of some concern. It needs to be asked whether some other form of administrative mechanism would have been more appropriate in this

situation.

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Chapter VII

Table of Whirinaki subdivisions and alienations

7.1 Introduction

During the twentieth century, the northern Whirinaki lands remammg in Maori ownership were subdivided into numerous small blocks, including a number of quarter-acre sections. Most of these blocks have been retained in Maori ownership. Whirinaki 1 sections 2 and 4 were divided into 49 blocks after 1900. Whirinaki 2 sections 1 and 3 were similarly divided into 27 blocks. In 1960, 21 of the subdivided Whirinaki 1 and 2 blocks (approximately 1500 acres) were amalgamated under the Ngati Manawa Development Scheme [see Appendix 5]. A detailed discussion of this scheme lies outside the scope of this commission but a brief outline of the scheme can be found in section 6.2.4 below.418

The following table provides a general overview of the many partitions of the Whirinaki blocks during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It contains a list of the Whirinaki blocks as they exist today and contains the following information:

~ Area: in acres, roods and perches, unless otherwise specified; > Number of owners when partitioned; ~ Maori Land Plan number; > Blocks amalgamated under the Ngati Manawa Development Scheme in 1960; ~ Blocks amalgamated with other Whirinaki blocks to form larger areas; ~ Blocks declared European land; > Blocks which are Maori reserves; ~ Blocks vested in trustees; > Alienated blocks; ~ Current ownership and utilisation.

The purpose of this table is to give a broad picture of the histories of the many partitions created from the Whirinaki blocks and to give a general indication of the blocks' current ownership and utilisation. The table is followed by a commentary section that provides a brief discussion of general issues arising from the table.

The information in the table comes from the following sources:

> Maori Land Court Block Order Files; ~ Land Information New Zealand titles database, plans and title records; ~ Te Puni Kokiri Maori Land Information Database.

An asterisk (*) has been used to indicate where there are gaps in the records, or where time constraints prevented a search for more specific details.

418 The Crown Forestry Rental Trust has commissioned a report by David Alexander on Development Schemes in the Urewera, including the Ngati Manawa Development Scheme.

a.r.p

NO

MLP

AM

NM

RF

Block

1 s.1

1 s.3

2 s.2

2s.4

i'. .....•

Whirinaki1 1 s.2B

1 s.2C 1 s.2J

1 s.2A1

1 s.2A2A

1 s.2A2B1

1 s.2A2B2A

1 s.2A2A2B1

1 s.2A2B2B1

1 s.2A2B2B2

1 s.201

1 s.202A

1 s. 202B1

1 s.202B2A

1 s.202B2B1

1 s.202B2B2

'"

Acres roods perches

Number of owners

Maori land plan (LlNZ)

Amalgamated

Amalgamated under Ngati Manawa Development Scheme 1960

Re-formed with other Whirinaki blocks to form new blocks

(See bottom of table for list of re-formed blocks)

~., Title i aC

' " ... jT i>, pi··.· ."0.; Nil? • .... "1"".; .> . ·.3 " 3

.. . ... ; ; " . "

1895 10,111 0 0 139 5422 ...

1895 1,238 0 0 ... 1895 9,802 0 0 148 ...

1895 348 0 0 ... . 1915 97 0 5 7 10446 NM

1915 50 2 35 4

1915 28 2 36 2

1948 0 1 0 1 18646 ... 1948 0 1 0 1 ...

1951 1 0 0 1 ...

1959 0 1 0 1 ... 1960 2 1 14 1 ...

1960 2 1 14 1 ...

1960 88 3 17 8 NM

1920 16 0 20 1 12376

1948 1 1 39.8 1 17650 ... 1954 0 2 0 1 ...

1955 0 2 0 1 ...

1956 0 3 31.3 1 ...

1956 94 0 19.00 15 NM

'~¥i.'." '"

. ..

. ..

'"

1970

1970

1972

1983

1961

1970

. .. 1970

1964

. ..

EL

R

VT @

Pt

i' Alh:n~t~?< ."i.

.;e i .•.. ·."

1895,Crown

Declared European land

Maori Reserve

Vested in Trustees

Current number of owners (Maori land)

Part

f} .. "' .';~~n~r~~i~~ijsa~()n •. . :'i Crown

: Kaingaroa State Forest, Whirinaki Forest Parf

. . I Murupara township, leased farm land

i .. " ' . '.'

. .. Private

'" Private

. .. Private

. .. Private

* . .. Maori Reserve (from 1985)

. .. Maori freehold land

. .. Private

. .. Private

Gifted 1959 RC Bishop of Hamilton. Church site.

LiVeolitle ;1 ..... ~." '.~. ;l,T

CT 86/152

.

1963 CT 20/44

1963 CT 20/43

1972 CT 140/403

1983 CT 290/826

1990 CT 46C/185

1960 CT 2A/317

Pt CT 86/149

1970 CT 11 0/835

1964 CT 30/513

1959 CT 1471/39

Block Title a r p NO MlP 'AM .Et: Alienaled .. , .. ,. ,]·:Current· •. : ;·Live title .... ; ..... ,~ .. ~ . : y

... ; •..... , qwnership/utililiation. ".. . . 1 s.2E1 1920 18 3 10 1 12376

1 s.2E2A 1951 5 0 0 * 20809 Reserve Pt CT 86/149 ... . .. ... 1 s.2E2B 1951 46 1 0 31 NM

1 s.2F1 1937 0 1 0 1 16204 ... . .. Exchanged for Crown land in Murupara c.1977. Part Rangitahi District High School.

1 s.2F2A 1955 0 2 0 1 19038 ... 1972 ... Private 1958 CT 30/910

1 s.2F2B 1955 0 2 0 1 ... 1970 ... Private 1970 CT 30/993

1 s.2F2C 1955 110 2 16 18 NM 1966 part of block (Oa.3r.20p: isolated by taking of land for school) renamed Whirinaki 3

1 s.2G1 1953 0 1 0 1 19691 ... 1966 ... Private 1967 CT 7 A/978

1 s.2G2A 1953 0 1 0 17208 ... . .. ... Private 1970 CT 11 C/596

1 s.2G2B 1953 0 1 0 2 ... 1970 ... Private 1970 CT 10B/961

1 s.2G2C1 1954 0 1 0 1 ... 1970 ... Private 1970 CT 11 C/597

1 s.2G2C2 1954 0 1 0 1 ... 1970 ... Private 1970 CT 11 C/598

1 s.2G2C3A 1954 0 1 0 NM

1 s.2G2C3B 1954 24 2 3 8

1 s.2H1 1919 0 2 13 1 11634 ... 1970 ... Private 1954 CT 111 f/208

1 s.2H2A1 1960 3 0 16 13 RF ... See table below

1 s.2H2A2 1960 16 1 12 13 NM

1 s.2H2B1 1960 32 0 31 24

1 s.2H2B2 1960 6 0 4 24 RF ... See table below

1 s.2K1 1926 1 0 0 VT-4 17358 ... . .. ... 1926 Meeting House Reserve. VT. Pt CT 86/149

1 s.2K2 1926 0 1 0 VT-5 ... . .. ... Maori land - 1926 VT. RC church site. Pt CT 86/149

1 s.2K3A 1948 0 1 0 1 21203 RF See table below

1 s.2K3B 1948 13 3 0 81 RF See table below

1s.4A 1899 281 0 0 5422 ... . .. 1899, Crown Returned to Maori 1981 as part of Ngahuinga block - CT 48C/363

1 s.4B1A 1913 1,533 3 33 11 ... . .. 1'914, CnJwn Crown (Railways). Kaingaroa State Forest. 1952 GN 1225

1 s.4B1 B 1913 1,749 2 7 14 19580 ... ... 1'914-64 Crown Crown. Kaingaroa State Forest. 1965 GNS 306199

1 s.4B2A 1920 186 0 16 1 5422 ... ... 1966 part to Crown

1 s.4B2B 1920 721 0 16 11 ... . .. 1960s part to Crown

1 s.4B2C 1920 170 2 32 2 ... ... 1965 Crown Returned to Maori 1981 as part of Ngahuinga block - CT 48C/363

1 s.4B2D 1920 597 0 16 11 ... ... 1960s part to Crown (Retained - VT) I

1 s.4B2E 1920 186 0 16 1 ... . .. 1966 Crown

1s.4B2F 1920 884 0 16 11 ... ... 1960s part to Crown

1 s.4B2G 1920 674 0 32 19 ... ... 1960s part to Crown - -

Block Title ... a r,<{ P, NO MLP I .~~ a .,. Alienated 'I·; r '.:.. Current l,ivetitla .' I ..•... : ,. ; '. <I OWllership/ulilisatl(')O •.. ,. ,'J.:

Whirinaki 2 , ;c

2 s.1C 1911 25 0 6 38 9432 NM

2 s.1A1 1947 0 1 0 @1 20893 '" '" ... Private (Maori freehold land: 1 owner) Pt Ct 86/150

2 s.1A2A 1951 0 1 0 @1 ... . .. . .. Private (Maori freehold land: 1 owner)

2s.1A2B1 1954 2 0 0 @1 9432 ... . .. . .. Private (Maori freehold land: 1 owner)

2 s.1A2B2A 1960 82 2 38 122 NM

2 s.1A2B2B 1960 41 2 33 @ 350 '" ... . .. Maori land: VT Pt Ct 86/150

2s.1B1 1915 16 3 31 9 11104 NM

2 s.1 B2 1915 32 3 31 23

2 s.1B3A 1929 27 3 29 10

2 s.1B3B 1929 49 0 11 30

2 s.101 1933 2 0 0 VT-12 20807 '" ... 1937 meeting house vested in 12 for Ngati Koro hapu

1973 revested in 25 names l Pt 86/150

2 s.102 1933 35 2 28 17 9432 NM

2 s.1 E1 1947 0 3 27 18874 * * 1992 CT 500/673 '" ... 2 s.1 E2 1947 66 2 1 47 '" ... 1981 vested in Maori Trustee (s.438). Leased 1980s - Pt CT 86m

2 s.3A 1899 70 0 0 21511 1899', Crown Crown * '" ... 2 s.3B1A1 1953 1 0 0 1 20474 '" 1971 ... Private 1971 CT 13A/596

2 s. 3B1A2 1953 5 2 8 5 '" ... . .. Maori freehold land: 38 owners Pt 86/150

2 s.3B1 B1 1960 1 0 0 @8 20900? '" ... . .. Maori freehold land: 8 owners Pt 86/150

2 s.3B1B2 1960 497 0 0 23 NM

2 s.3B2A 1921 39 3 35 9 12814 NM

2 s.3B2B 1921 38 0 37 6 I 1921, private Private * '" ... 2 s.3B3A 1925 10 2 3 6 14070 NM

2 s.3B3B1 1960 692 1 37 3

2 s.3B3B2 1960 33 1 18 9432 * * * ... . .. 2 s.3B4A 1950 2 0 0 2 20374 '" ... 1970 vested in 2 persons as joint tenants 1970 CT 12B/1153

2 s.3B4B 1950 373 1 12.3 15 9432 ... 1964 1964 Private. Private CT 48C/943

2 s.3B5 1903 245 0 0 15 * Maori freehold land: 160 owners Pt CT 86/150 ... . .. . .. TOTAL AREA 31,271 86 905 , . ' . Total converted 31,298 3 24.89

. .; , - - -- ._- , ..• -

Block Current live titl~

'Re-formed' Whirinaki blocks, and additional blocks in Te Puni Kokiri Maori Land Information Database

Whirinaki A2 01 0 1 32 2 1 s.2H2B2

Whirinaki A3 0 0 32 2 1 s. 2K3B (13a.3r. 1970 Private 11970 CT 10A/791

Whirinaki A4 809m2 @2 * * Retained - Maori land I * '"

Whirinaki A5 809m2 @1 * * I *

Whirinaki A6 809m2 @3 * * I I I * Whirinaki A7 0 1 0 @2 * * I I I *

Whirinaki A8 1966 0 1 0 @1 20884 * I * ...

Whirinaki B1 0.1114 hectares @1 21279 Pt 1 s.2H2 Retained - Maori land I * ...

Whirinaki B2 2.883 hectares @98 * * I *

Whirinaki C1 1972 1 0 18 * * Whirinaki C (12a.3r.Op)

I * I *

Whirinaki C2 11 2 22 183 * I * I *

Whirinaki Pt C 1981 * * * 262 17358 Whirinaki C & 1 s.2K3A (Oa.1 r.Op) * I *

Whirinaki 0 1 0 0 28 21403 * Retained - Maori Reserve I * ...

'Whirinaki E 1985 5.2009 hectares @747 * Whirinaki C Retained - Maori Reserve I * ...

iWhirinaki F 1985 0.1012 hectares @9 21672 2 s.2K3A Retained - Maori land I * ...

iWhirinaki H 5.9494 hectares @83 * * Retained - Maori land I * ...

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7.2 Commentary

7.2.1 Partitioning of Maori-owned blocks

The Maori-owned Whirinaki blocks were frequently partitioned at the request of the owners during the twentieth century. The subdivision of the rugged Whirinaki 1 section 4 blocks (in the south-east of Whirinaki) has been outlined in Chapter V. Whirinaki 1 section 2 (330 acres) and Whirinaki 2 section 1 (400 acres) lay in the north-east of the block. The Maori owners lived on and farmed these flat areas. The subdivision of these blocks produced a range of residential and small farming sites. These sites range in size from numerous quarter-acre sections to a 110 acre block (Whirinaki 1 section 2F2C). All except two of the blocks over 6 acres were amalgamated in 1960 under the Ngati Manawa Development Scheme. The remaining two large blocks were vested in trustees and do not appear to have been alienated (Whirinaki 2 sections 1A2B2B - 41 acres - and 1E2 - 66 acres). Whirinaki 2 section 3B (1980 acres, flat land) lies directly south of Whirinaki 2 section 1. Between 1921 and 1960 it was subdivided into 12 blocks ranging in size from 1 acre to 692 acres. Again, most of the larger blocks were amalgamated in 1960 under the Ngati Manawa Development Scheme.

7.2.2 Survey liens

Each time the Maori-owned Whirinaki blocks were partitioned the owners were required to pay survey costs. These survey liens have not been listed in the table above as it was felt this would result in the table becoming too cluttered. Appendix 6 contains a list of liens charged against the blocks between 1893 and 1966. Most survey liens charged against the blocks appear to have been discharged either shortly after the blocks were partitioned or in following years.

In general, the owners appear to have paid survey charges without comment. However, four groups of owners complained in writing about survey work and charges in 1914, 1917 and 1926.

In 1914, Te Whaiti Paora and Harehare Atarea complained independently about the survey of Whirinaki 2 subdivisions. Whirinaki 2 section 1 had been divided into five parts in 1911 ranging in size from 25 to 130 acres. Both complainants argued that the survey of the subdivisions had not been carried out correctly. Te Whaiti Paora's complaint lacked specific details but Harehare informed the chief surveyor that he had been allocated an area on a sandbank and his houses, timber and fruit trees had been awarded to someone else.419 The surveyor, AB Stubbing, explained to an official in the Native Land Department that he had adhered to the orders of the Court and that most owners were quite satisfied with the survey. He suggested that the complaints were based on 'a family quarrel', and were 'not worthy of notice'. Stubbing believed that other family members in the blocks would strongly resent any alterations being

419 Harehare Atarea and others, to Chief Surveyor, Auckland, 31 July 1914; Te Whaiti Paora and others, to Chief Surveyor, 31 July 1914, File 20173, voU, LINZ, Hamilton

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made on the basis of these complaints.42o The chief surveyor informed the complainants that the plan would not be approved unless it conformed with the orders of the Native Land Court.421 It is unclear whether the complaints resulted in boundaries being amended. The Maori Land Court and Lands and Survey Department files do not refer to specific changes being made in order to satisfy the complainants.

On 3 November 1917, Parakiri Rauriri complained to the Commissioner of Crown Lands that, as a result of the surveys of Whirinaki blocks 1 sections 2A to 2K, he, his children and his hapu had 'been moved from our houses and cultivations'. Parakiri believed that the survey did not follow the Court's award.422 Judge Browne of the Wanganui Native Land Court informed the registrar of the Waiariki Court that the survey had been made in accord with the orders of the Court and that he had approved the plan. No further action appears to have been taken by the complainant or Crown

ff ' . I 423 o lCla s.

A fourth complaint was recorded in 1926. On 24 June 1926, Hohepa Katene complained to the Native Land Court that the survey charge for Whirinaki 2 section 3B3B (£31 18s lld: 725 acres) was excessive given that only 10 acres (section 2B3A) had been cut off the parent block and it took only one day to do this. 424 The Department of Lands and Survey explained that while the cost seemed heavy, it related to more than the cutting out of the 10 acres. The costs also included the compilation of a '30 x 30 plan' (presumably 30 inches by 30 inches) covering the balance area (Hohepa's section 3B3B) and traveling expenses. The charges were in accordance with 'usual rates'. It was usual practice for small surveys which were likely to incur heavy traveling expenses to be 'held up until an adjoining survey affords relief in traveling charge', but, 'in this case it was not possible without unduly delaying the work' .425 Hohepa was apparently satisfied with this explanation. He informed the chief surveyor in July 1926 that he now understood the basis for the charges and he apologized for his earlier complaint about the cost.426

7.2.3 Private alienations: purchases and gifts

The Crown, as outlined in Part IV of this report, purchased the vast majority of the Whirinaki blocks alienated from Maori ownership. Private parties acquired all or partial interests in the following five blocks:

420 AB Stubbing, Surveyor, to PJ Knight, Native Land Department, Auckland, 20 August 1914, File 20173, vol.1, LINZ, Hamilton 421 Chief Surveyor, Hamilton, to Harehare, Te Whaiti and others, Murupara, 3 September 1914, File 20173, vol.1, LINZ, Hamilton 422 Parakiri Rauriri, Te Whaiti, to Commissioner of Crown Lands, 3 November 1917, Waiariki MLC Closed Applications BOF 1239-1241, File 2 423 Judge Browne, to Registrar, Waiariki Native Land Court, 29 March 1918, Waiariki MLC Closed Applications BOF 1239-1241, File 2 424 Hohepa Katene, Murupara, to the Judge, Native Land Court, Rotorua, 24 June 1926, Waiariki MLC Closed Applications BOF 1239-1241, File 2 425 Chief Surveyor, Department of Lands and Survey, Auckland, to Registrar, Native Land Court, Rotorua, 2 July 1926, Closed File Series 1169, Waiariki Maori Land Court 426 Hohepa Katene, to Chief Surveyor, 22 July 1926, File 20173, voU, LINZ, Hamilton

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/···Whir:ihaki / Area Year Mode of alienation Block (a,r.p) alienated

2 sec.3B2B 38.0.37 1921 Assembled owners meeting (12 February 1921).

2 sec.3B3 736.1.18 1920-25 Partial purchase of individual interests by local (part) Maori farmer (H. Katene). Bulk of block

(approximately 703 acres) retained. 1 sec.2G 26.0.03 1922 Partial purchase of individual interests by settler

(part) T. Anderson. Bulk of block (approximately 24 acres) retained.

1 sec. 0.3.31 1956 Gifted to Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland for 2D2B2B1 a church site. Site still used for this purpose. 427

2 sec.3B4B 373.1.12 1964 Sold to S. & A. White (owners of 3B4A). Declared European land circa 1966.

The bulk of the partially purchased blocks (Whirinaki 2 sections 3B3 and Whirinaki 1 section 2G) were amalgamated with other Whirinaki blocks in 1960 under the Ngati Manawa Development Scheme. See Appendix 2 for more details on these alienations and on relevant files.

7.2.4 Ngati Manawa Development Scheme and Amalgamation 1960

Twenty-one of the Maori-owned Whirinaki blocks were amalgamated on 21 July 1960 as part of the Ngati Manawa development scheme (See Appendix 5 for a list of blocks). This scheme involved other Ngati Manawa lands as well as the Whirinaki blocks. HT Bird notes that, '[a]malgamation meant that all the owners became owners of every block in the Ngati Manawa land scheme'. The Maori Affairs Department administered the development scheme from 1960 until 1969 when the Ngati Manawa owners passed a motion of no confidence in the Department. The owners' dissatisfaction with the Department stemmed from the build-up of a $100,000 debt on the scheme despite promises at the time of amalgamation that it would be debt free within ten years. The Department released the Ngati Manawa scheme from part 24 of the Maori Affairs Act but did not cancel the debt. In 1971 the owners elected an incorporation to administer the lands released from the Act.428 Further discussion of this scheme, and fate of the blocks involved, lies outside the scope of this commission.

7.2.5 Europeanisation

At least 14 of the smallest Whirinaki blocks, totaling around 7 acres in area, were reclassified as European land between 1964 and 1983 (See Appendix 3 for a list of blocks). Maori freehold land was able to be reclassified in this way under section 454A of the Maori Affairs Act 1953 (as enacted by section 14 of the Maori Purposes Act 1963), and later, under Part 1 of the Maori Affairs Amendment Act 1967 and section 13 of the Maori Purposes Act (No.2) 1973.

427 Conversation with John Hoy, Financial Administrator, Roman Catholic Diocese of Hamilton, 28 March 2001 428 Bird, pp.30-32, 44

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These Acts provided for europeanisation of Maori land in the following ways:

1. Maori Affairs Act 1953, section 433: Maori owners of Maori freehold land could apply to the Appellate Court to have land reclassified as European land.

2. Maori Purposes Act 1963, section 14: inserts section 454A into the principal Act. Under this section, judges or registrars of the Native Land Court could, 'whether on application made or otherwise', declare certain types of Maori freehold land to be European land. This section applied to any Maori freehold land which,

a) Is beneficially owned in severalty or by two or more persons as joint tenants for a legal estate in fee simple; and

b) Is half an acre or less in area; and c) Has erected thereon a dwellinghouse used exclusively or principally

as a home by the owner or one of the owners; and d) Is not used by the owner or one of the owners in conjunction with

other Maori freehold land owned by him in such a way as to form part of a farm.

3. Maori Affairs Amendment Act 1967, Part I: This part of the Act applied to Maori freehold land 'beneficially owned by not more than four persons for a legal and beneficial estate in fee simple'. Under section 4 the registrar of the Maori Land Court could make inquiries into the status and nature of the land. Section 6 empowered the registrar to issue a declaration that the land should cease to be Maori land if his inquiries showed that none of the owners were deceased, the land was suitable for effective use and occupation and a plan of the land had been prepared. The registrar was to inform the owners in writing that the land had ceased to be Maori land.

4. Maori Purposes Act {No.2} 1973, section 13: This section repealed section 433 of the 1953 Act and Part I of the Maori Affairs Amendment Act 1957. It substituted a new section. The new section empowered the Court, 'on the application of the legal and beneficial owner or owners of any Maori freehold land', to make an order declaring that the status of the land should cease to be that of Maori land. The Court was required to consider the number of owners in the block and the suitability of the land for effective use and occupation.

Based on the dates of the live titles issued for these blocks, and on the dates that these blocks were declared European land, it appears that the Maori owners have retained most of these blocks.

7.2.6 Current ownership and utilisation

The Crown acquired around 79 percent of the original Whirinaki block: 24,851 acres (see Appendix 1). The township of Murupara is sited on the northernmost part of the Crown-owned land (Whirinaki 1 section 1). The flat land to the south-west of the township is farming land. The Whirinaki Forest Park occupies much of the middle

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section of Whirinaki (Whirinaki 1 section 1 and Whirinaki 2 section 2). Crown­owned land in the south-west of the block forms part of the Kaingaroa State Forest.

Maori have retained ownership of a number of blocks in the north-east and south-west of Whirinaki. The blocks in the north-east corner (Whirinaki 1 section 2 and Whirinaki 2 sections 1 and 3), to the east of Murupara township, are made up of residential and farming sites. These blocks include land amalgamated under the Ngati Manawa Development Scheme in 1960 (around 1500 acres). The current ownership and utilisation of the development blocks has not been researched for this report. A number of other blocks in the north-east of Whirinaki have remained in Maori ownership, either with small numbers of owners or under trustees from amongst a larger group of owners. The Ngahuinga block in the south-west of Whirinaki 1 (Whirinaki sections 4A and 4B2: around 3683 acres) has remained in Maori ownership and is managed by trustees appointed from amongst the owners. The development blocks and the Ngahuinga block together amount to around 16 percent of the original Whirinaki block.

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Chapter VIII

Conclusion

8.1 Summary of events

This timeline summarises significant aspects of the history of the Whirinaki block covered in this report:

Year .. , ............. ••

.... '," Significant events .'-.... . .. '"

1890 Title investigation of Whirinaki: 31,500 acres. Awarded to Ngati Apa (Whirinaki 1) and Ngati Manawa (Whirinaki 2)

1893 Rehearing of title on application of Ngati Manawa. 1890 decision upheld. 1895 Crown acquires the bulk of Whirinaki 1 and 2 in lieu of survey liens and through

the purchase of individual interests (21,499 acres). 1899 Crown acquires extra land in lieu of survey liens stemming from the 1895

partitions (351 acres). 1911 Six acres gifted to Crown for a school site. Additional land taken under public

works legislation in 1960, 1967: owners compensated. 1914 Crown acquires Whirinaki 1 section 4BIA through an assembled owners meeting

(1533 acres). 1920s Crown acquires Whirinaki 1 section 4BIB through the purchase of individual -1965 interests and a land exchange (1749 acres). 1937 One rood gifted to Crown for a public nurse's cottage (taken through public works

legislation). Land revested in owners and exchanged for other land 1977. 1958 Land taken under public works legislation for sewerage plant. Additional land

taken 1967. Owners compensated 1966 and 1968. 1960 Approximately 1500 acres of Whirinaki blocks owned by Maori amalgamated

under Ngati Manawa Development Scheme. 1965 Crown acquires Whirinaki 1 section 4B2C (171 acres) 1966 Crown acquires Whirinaki 1 section 4B2E (186 acres) 1960s Crown acquires around half of the individual interests in Whirinaki 1 sections

4B2A, 4B2B, 4B2D, 4B2F and 4B2G 1981 Crown returns Whirinaki 1 sections 4A, 4B2C, 4B2E and interests acquired in

remaining 4B2 blocks to 4B2 non-sellers as part of the Motumako settlement. The blocks are amalgamated to form Ngahuinga block (3,683 acres)

1900 to Whirinaki blocks retained by Maori owners partitioned into numerous small present blocks. Most of these appear to have been retained in Maori ownership.

The following two sections summarise issues arising in this report that may have Treaty implications.

8.2 Nineteenth century issues

The key issues for the nineteenth century include the following:

• The cost to Maori of participating in the Maori Land Court process; The Crown's acquisition of Maori land in lieu of survey liens;

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• The Crown's purchasing of undivided shares in communally-owned Maori land; The scope of land alienations (the Crown acquires 69 per cent of Whirinaki in the 1890s);

• Crown advantages in the purchase process; The adequacy of the Crown's protective mechanisms.

8.2.1 The cost to Maori o/participating in the Maori Land Court process

As discussed in Chapter III, participation in the Maori Land Court process often resulted in the Maori participants incurring significant costs. These costs could be particularly steep when Court hearings were held at locations some distance from the participants' homes and crops. Travel and accommodation expenses could result in Maori incurring significant levels of debt. The Whirinaki title hearings were held at Whakatane, some 70 kilometres from Galatea where most Ngati Manawa lived. Research carried out for this report failed to locate any specific details of any debts incurred by Whirinaki Maori as a result of attending the title investigation of Whirinaki in 1890 and the rehearing of the title in 1893. However, it should be noted that leaders from amongst the Maori claimants and counter-claimants opposed the Crown's choice of Whakatane as the location for the hearings. During the mid-1880s both Rawiri Parakiri of Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa and Harehare Atarea of Ngati Manawa requested that Court proceedings be held closer to their homes and cultivations. They argued that they had incurred significant costs from attending hearings at Whakatane in past years. The choice of Whakatane for the hearings appears to have been chosen to suit the needs of the Court rather than the needs of most Maori involved.

8.2.2 The Crown's acquisition 0/ Maori land in lieu 0/ survey liens

The Crown acquired approximately 15 per cent of the 31,5000 Whirinaki block in lieu of survey liens in 1895 and 1899 (4790 acres). Surveys of Maori land were, to some extent, an unavoidable expense. Surveys were needed to establish clear boundaries so that land could be leased, sold or developed. However, it needs to be asked whether Maori should have borne the full costs of surveys of their lands given that lessors and Crown and private purchasers also benefited from having block boundaries clearly identified. The Crown, as well as the Maori owners, benefited from the surveys carried out to define the Whirinaki blocks. It could be argued that it should have carried part of the burden of the original survey costs rather than taking land in lieu of the full cost. As noted in Chapter IV, whether or not the loss of 15 percent of the Whirinaki block as a direct result of the survey costs constituted a reasonable cost for the Maori grantees is a question for the Tribunal to consider in light of the Crown's obligations to Maori under the Treaty of Waitangi.

The Crown acquired 14 percent of Whirinaki in 1895 and an additional one percent in 1899 in lieu of survey liens. The 1899 liens had been incurred when the Crown's interests were partitioned out of the Whirinaki blocks in 1895. The Crown and the non-selling Maori owners shared the costs of surveying the blocks partitioned in 1895. However, it is questionable whether Maori who had declined to sell their interests in land should have been burdened with survey costs resulting from the

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actions of the Crown and the selling owners. The new surveys effectively cost the non-sellers in the Whirinaki blocks the 351 acres awarded to the Crown in lieu of survey liens in 1899.

8.2.3 The Crown's purchasing of undivided shares in communally owned Maori land

The Crown acquired approximately 54 percent of the original Whirinaki block in 1895 through the purchase of individual interests in land (17,060 acres). The purchase of individual shares in communally owned Maori land was legal. However, it undermined the ability of Maori to hold onto their lands collectively under tribal mana. The practice facilitated the whittling away of Maori land into ever-smaller parcels. The practice of purchasing individual shares may be seen as an acknowledgment of the autonomy of individual Maori owners. However, the recognition of individuals' rights to sell came at the cost of tribal control over land and greatly facilitated the alienation of Maori land. As discussed in Chapter IV, Ngati Manawa chief Harehare Atarea attempted to have a 1000 acre area set aside for Ngati Manawa in 1895. Ngati Manawa and the Crown had been previously arranged that a lesser area of 400 acres would be set aside. However, it appears that only the 400 acres initially agreed upon was set apart from sale. The Crown's reluctance to limit its purchasing of individual shares may have undermined Harehare's attempts to have the retained area expanded to 1000 acres.

8.2.4 The scope of land alienations

The scope of the nineteenth century Whirinaki alienations is of concern. By 1900, the Crown had acquired 69 percent of the land awarded to the Maori grantees in 1890. As noted in Chapter IV, this large scale purchasing occurred at the same time as other large Crown purchases of Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa-owned blocks. The Crown acquired the bulk of the Whirinaki blocks in the 1890s as part of its late nineteenth century Maori 'land grab'. It has been argued that the Crown should have exercised more restraint in its purchasing of Maori land in the 1890s given indications that the Maori population was increasing and that Maori needed to retain sufficient land on which to support themselves in the future.

8.2.5 Crown advantages in the purchase process

The Crown enjoyed the advantage of pre-emption when it purchased Whirinaki lands in 1895. The Native Land Court Act 1894 barred private purchasers from negotiating to purchase Maori land and placed the Crown in the privileged position of monopoly purchaser. Maori who wished to sell had to do so at the Crown's prices rather than at market prices. Individual interests in the Whirinaki blocks were purchased at the rate of three shillings per acre. This was half the average price paid for Maori land between 1891 and 1911. However, without an analysis of market prices paid for lands in this district, it is unclear whether the Whirinaki vendors were disadvantaged by Crown pre-emption. It should be noted, however, that the Crown's monopoly purchase powers in this period militated against the payment of market prices to Maori vendors.

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8.2.6 The adequacy o/the Crown's protective mechanisms

Legislation in place during the 1890s does not appear to have required that the Crown ensure Maori vendor had sufficient other lands on which to support themselves before it acquired their interests in land. Research carried out for this report failed to find any evidence to show that the Crown inquired into the extent of other lands owned by the Whirinaki vendors. Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa were divesting themselves of extensive areas of land during this decade, including 99.5 percent of the Heruiwi block to the south of Whirinaki. The Crown's failure to ensure that it did not strip the vendors of what may have been their last remaining significant land holdings is open to question given its protective obligations to Maori under the Treaty.

One protective mechanism that was applied to the Whirinaki blocks was the Native Land Court's placing of restrictions on the blocks' titles in 1890, 1893, 1895 and 1899. Restrictions were supposed to prevent blocks being alienated or leased for a period longer than 21 years. However, legislative reforms in the 1880s and 1890s seriously undermined the protections offered by restrictions on Maori land titles. Section 14 of the Native Land Purchases Act 1892 empowered the governor to remove or declare void restriction on Maori land for the purposes of sale to the Crown. Section 52 of the Native Land Court Act 1894 allowed the Native Land Court to lift restrictions if one-third of the owners in the block agreed to this. Research carried out for this report failed to find any evidence that the restrictions were lifted under either piece of legislation. However, it also failed to find any evidence to suggest that the Maori owners opposed the lifting of restrictions from the blocks' titles.

8.3 Twentieth century issues

The key issues for the twentieth century include the following:

• The Crown's purchasing of undivided shares in communally owned Maori land; The length of time taken to resolve the Motumako grievance and concerns over the Crown's purchase of shares in Whirinaki 1 section 4B2.

8.3.1 The Crown's purchasing o/undivided shares in communally owned Maori land

The Crown purchased undivided shares in Whirinaki 1 section 4B1B during the 1920s and in the Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 blocks in the mid-1960s. As in the case of the individual interests purchased in the Whirinaki blocks during the nineteenth century, this practice undermined the ability of the Maori owners to retain tribal control over their lands and facilitated the alienation of an ever-diminishing stock of Maori freehold land.

The Crown commenced the purchase of individual interests in these blocks when assembled owner meetings failed to pass resolutions in favour of sale to the Crown. However, it acquired these interests legally by means of memoranda of transfer under the Native Land Amendment Act 1913 and the Maori Affairs Act 1953.

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The Crown's practice of purchasing individual interests in Maori land during the twentieth century has been criticised as facilitating the alienation of an increasingly scarce Maori resource. In 1920 the Under-Secretary of the Native Department, CB Jordan, concluded that the amount of land retained by Maori was 'barely sufficient' for their needs.429 The Crown continued to purchase Maori land despite this finding. As noted in Chapter V, Alan Ward has suggested that, 'Given the limited areas of land remaining in Maori hands [after 1910] and the burgeoning population, any alienations at this time must be regarded as likely to infringe the Crown's Treaty obligation of active protection' .430 The Whirinaki 1 section 4B1B and 4B2 owners were among many Maori whose hold on their land during the twentieth century was undermined by the Crown's pursuit of an aggressive land purchase policy at a time when the Crown should have been aware that Maori had retained very little of their ancestral lands. However, it should be noted that the Crown ultimately returned the interests purchased in the Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 blocks to Maori as part of the Motumako settlement.

8.3.2 The length of time taken to resolve the Motumako and Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 grievances

In 1981 the Crown and Maori reached a settlement regarding the Crown's assumed ownership of the Motumako Reserve in the Kaingaroa 1 block and its purchases of undivided shares in the Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 blocks. In return for giving up their claim to Motumako, the claimants and the 4B2 owners were given the Crown's purchased shares in the 4B2 blocks, including two fully purchased blocks and Whirinaki 1 section 4A, which the Crown had acquired in 1899 in lieu of survey liens. It took a protracted series of negotiations to reach this settlement. The Motumako grievance was resolved 60 years after it was first brought to the Crown's attention, while it took 14 years to settle the question of the 4B2 blocks' ownership.

The length of time taken to resolve the Motumako grievance and the ownership of the Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 blocks may be of concern given that it prevented both the Crown and the Maori non-sellers in the 4B2 blocks from effectively utilizing the land. Part of the delay can be attributed to a genuine concern on the part of the Crown that the landlocked Motumako and 4B2 blocks posed a fire risk to adjacent state forests. Its attempts to retain these lands, and remove the 4B2 non-sellers from the blocks, were partly based on this assessment of fire risk. However, it needs to be asked whether this genuine concern could have been alleviated, and the two matters resolved much earlier, if the Crown had been prepared to take a more flexible and open-handed approach to the Motumako claimants and the 4B2 non-sellers.

8.3.3 Public works takings

The public works takings outlined in Chapter VI do not appear to raise significant Treaty issues.

429 Cited in Ward, Overview, vol.2, p.387 430 Ward, Overview, vol.1, p.35

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8.4 Conclusion

The principal issue arising out of this report concerns the extent of Crown purchasing of Maori land at times when it should have been aware that Maori had already divested themselves of much of their tribal lands. The limited protective mechanisms in place failed to significantly slow the pace of alienations in the face of the Crown's wish to acquire Maori land for settlement or forestry purposes. In the absence of an overview of Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa's landholdings, and their relationships with the Crown, this report needs to be read alongside existing reports examining Ngati Apa and Ngati Manawa's ancestrallands.431

431 These reports include GM Paul & CM Paul, 'The History of Kaingaroa No. 1, The Crown and the People of Ngati Manawa', Te Runanganui 0 Te Ika Whenua, 1994 (second edition) (Wai 212 B2); Tracy Tulloch, 'Heruiwi Blocks 1-4', report commissioned by the Waitangi Tribunal, September 2000 (RW04)

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Appendix 3

Appendix 4

Appendix 5

Appendix 6

Appendix 7

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Appendices

Direction commissioning research

Whirinaki blocks acquired by the Crown, 1895-1968

Whirinaki blocks acquired by private parties, 1921-1964

Whirinaki blocks declared European land, 1964-1983

Whirinaki blocks affected by Public Works activity, 1911-1967

Whirinaki blocks amalgamated under Ngati Manawa Development Scheme, 21 July 1960

Whirinaki survey liens, 1893-1966

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Appendix 1: Direction commissioning research

WAITANGI TRIBUNAL

CONCERNING

AND CONCERNING

o ~CX5 J /0 } / 0 / If

RW 04 :tf 3.:2.3

the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975

the Urewera district inquiry

MEMORANDUM-DIRECTION OF DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON

1 Pursuant to clause 5A(1) of the second schedule of the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975, the Tribunal commissions Tracy Tulloch of Auckland to complete a research report on the Whirinaki block covering the following matters: a. An overview of the customary Maori ownership, occupation and use of the

Whirinaki block and a brief outline of historical events affecting the Whirinaki block and its owners, circa 1840-1890;

b. Details surrounding the survey of the parent Whirinaki block and its subsequent main partitions, including a discussion of survey liens on the Whirinaki blocks;

c. An examination of the title investigation and rehearing of Whirinaki by the Native Land Court;

d. An analysis of the 19th century Crown acquisition of individual shares in the Whirinaki hlock'

e. An analysis of the 20th century Crown acquisition of Whirinaki lands and the mechanisms which facilitated this acquisition;

f. A summary of the alienation of the Whirinaki parent block from Maori ownership, and an ~lienation history of each of the maior partitions from 1878 to the present, to be presented in tabular form [with a brief commentary];

g. A brief discussion of public works takings affecting the Whirinaki block, with a case study on land taken for schools and for district nurses' cottages;

h. A summary of the current ownership of this block and a commentary on how this land is currently utilised.

2 This commission commenced on Monday 20 November 2000; a finished draft report will be filed with the Tribunal on Friday 30 March 2001; a final draft report will be filed on Friday 13 April 2001; and a completed research report will be released by Thursday 31 May 2001.

R W04 Tulloch

3 The Registrar is to send copies of this direction to:

Tracy Tulloch Solicitor General, Crown Law Office Director, Office of Treaty Settlements Secretary, Crown Forestry Rental Trust Chief Executive, Te Puni Kokiri Wai 36, Tuhoe Consolidated Claim Wai 57, Ngati Tahu Lands claim Wai 66, Te Whaiti 1 and 2 Blocks Claim Wai 144, Panekiri Tribal Trust Claim Wai 212, Te Ika Whenua Lands and Waterways Claim Wai 257, Ngati Manawa Lands and Rangitaiki Plains Claim Wai 509, Urewera Consolidation Claim Wai 724, Murupara Section Rating Claim Wai 725, Te Pahou Blocks, Te Whaiti Claim Wai 726, Ngati Haka-Patuheuheu Lands and Waterways Claim Wai 761, Urewera Lands and Waters Claim Wai 791, Volcanic Interior plateau Claim Wai 794, Opouriao Lands and Resources Claim Wai 795, Lake Waikaremoana, Tumatawhero Claim Wai 840, The Whirinaki Block claim Wai 842, Tuawhenua Blocks and Urewera National Park Claim Tuhoe Tuawhenua Trust Tuhoe Waikaremoana Maori Trust Board Tuhoe Manawaru Maori Executive Department of Conservation Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry The Chief Executive Officer of Land Information New Zealand Whakatane District Council

Dated at Wellington, this 261L. day of January 2001.

~lJ~ Chief Judge J V Wi7;-lh~' am-s--"""'" Deputy Chairperson WAITANGI TRIBUNAL

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Appendix 2: Whirinaki blocks acquired by the Crown, 1895-1968

Permanently acquired

The northern part of Whirinaki 1 section 1 incorporates the township of Murupara and farm land. The remaining areas are now part of the Kaingaroa State Forest and the Whirinaki Forest Park.

Whirinald ..... Area Year Mode of alienation ·.·Blqck ... ... a- cr • ..... p. alienated

1 section 1 10,111 0 00 1895 21 % survey lien 1 section 3 1,238 0 00 79% purchase of 2 section 2 9,802 0 00 Individual interests 2 section 4 348 0 00 2 section 3A 70 0 00 Survey lien 1 section 4B lA 1533 3 33 1914 Individual interests 1 section 4BIB 1749 2 07 1927-29 Individual interests &

1963 land exchange "

Total area aCQuired ''''''''

24,852 ...

2 00········ 79% ofparentWhirinakiblock ... .... .....

.....

Temporarily acquired

The Crown acquired part or all of these blocks between 1899 and 1968. However, the blocks were amalgamated and returned to Maori as the Ngahuinga block in 1981.

Whirinaki Area Year Mod~ol' alicJ1ation ... Blo~k a . r. p. alienated 1 section 4A All 281 0 00 1899 Survey lien 1 section 4B2A Part 186 0 16 1966-1968 Purchase of 1 section 4B2B Part 721 0 16 individual interests 1 section 4B2C All 170 2 32 1 section 4B2D Part 597 0 16 1 section 4B2E All 186 0 16 1 section 4B2F Part 884 0 16 1 section 4B2G Part 674 0 32

I

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Appendix 3: Whirinaki blocks and interests acquired by private parties, 1921-1964

This information in this table is derived from alienation files deposited in National Archives, Auckland, and from material found in the Waiariki (Rotorua) Maori Land Court block order files. At least 14 small Whirinaki subdivisions were reclassified as European land in the 1960s and 1970s (see Appendix 3). Most of these blocks appear to have been retained by Maori but some may have been alienated. Consequently, this table may not include all private alienations of the Whirinaki subdivisions or of interests in those subdivisions.

. ···WhiHn~ki I··'····· Area ··Year ... . .. Mqde ofalienatiou .. Price ... B16ck (a:r.p) . aliellated :: .......• ... .... :

2 sec.3B2B 38.0.37 1921 Assembled owners meeting (12 February £47.15.09 1921). A maj ority of owners pass a (£1.5.0 resolution in favour of sale of Whirinaki 2 per acre) section 3B2 to a private purchaser (settler T. Anderson). Interests of dissentient owners cut out of 2 s.3B2 as 2 s.3B2A (40 acres). 432

2 sec.3B3 736.1.18 1920-25 Partial purchase of individual interests by £1 per (part) local Maori farmer (H. Katene).433 Block acre

partitioned 1925 and 1960. Bulk of block (approx. 703 acres) amalgamated with other Whirinaki blocks in 1960 under the Ngati Manawa Development Scheme. 434

1 sec.2G 26.0.03 1922 Partial purchase of individual interests by £6 per (part) settler T. Anderson. Block subdivided acre

1953 and 1954 into seven parts.435 Bulk of block (24 acres 2 roods 3 perches) amalgamated with other Whirinaki blocks III 1960 under the Ngati Manawa Development Scheme. 436

1 sec. 0.3.31 1956 Gifted to Roman Catholic Bishop of Gifted 2D2B2B1 Auckland for a church site.437 Still used

for this purpose.438

2 sec.3B4B 373.1.12 1964 Sold to S. & A. White (owners of 3B4A). Not Declared European land circa 1966.439 found

432 Alienation file, Whirinaki 2 section 3B2B, 12 February 1921-3 July 1922, BAn 11192/50g, NA Auckland 433 Alienation file, Whirinaki 2 section 3B3, 29 May 1920-1 April 1925, BAn 11192/69m, NA Auckland 434 Partition Order, 21 July 1960,BOF 2457 A, Waiariki Maori Land Court. Rotorua Native Land Court minute book 112, fol 387 435 Alienation file, Whirinaki 1 section 2G, 23 August 1920-14 December 1922, BAn 11192/55f, NA Auckland 436 Partition Order, 21 July 1960, BOF 2446A, Waiariki Maori Land Court. Rotorua Native Land Court minute book 112, fol 387. 437 Alienation file, Whirinaki 1 section 2D2B2Bl, 8 June 1956-28 March 1958, BAn 11192/119g, NA Auckland 438 Conversation with John Hoy, Financial Administrator, Roman Catholic Diocese of Hamilton, 28 March 2001 439 Memorial Schedule, 19 June 1964, BOF 2458A, Waiariki Maori Land Court

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Appendix 4: Whirinaki blocks declared European land, 1964-1983

WhidnatdBlock ..•....... Area ...•...... . ..• . ............... Date . .....

.. ······a.r~ ~ ....... . ....

1 sec.2A1 0.1.00 1970 1 sec.2A2A 0.1.00 1970 1 sec.2A2B1 0.1.00 1972 1 sec.2A2B2A 0.1.00 1983 1 sec. 2A2A2B 1 2.1.14 1970 1 sec.2D2B1 0.2.00 1970 1 sec.2D2B2A 0.2.00 1964 1 sec.2F2B 0.2.00 1970 1 sec.2G1 0.1.00 1966 1 sec.2G2B 0.1.00 1970 1 sec.2G2C1 0.1.00 1970 1 sec.2G2C2 0.1.00 1970 1 sec.2H1 0.2.13 1970 2 sec.3B1A1 1.0.00 1971

···.T6tal .·.·····7a.lr27p· .

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Appendix 5: Whirinaki blocks affected by Public Works activity, 1911-1967

.' Whiririaki. . ... Total Area Year Naiureof Public . C01li.p~nsation. Block .': ... area ... : ....... taken W orks .. acdvity .. ' ... return .

a.r.p·::: a.r.p 1 sec. 2F 330.0.00 6.0.00 1911 Donated for a Native Nil compensation.

School site. To be revested in Transferred to Crown by owners if no longer means of a proclamation needed for a school under Public Works Act site. 1908

1 sec. 2F2C 110.2.16 12.0.36 1960 Transferred to Crown by Compensation means of a proclamation 1965: under Public Works Act £141314s Od 1908

1.3.25 1967 Transferred to Crown by Compensation means of a proclamation 1967: under Public Works Act $1,308.10 1908

1 sec. 2F1 0.1.00 0.1.00 1937 1 rood donated by owners Nil compensation for district nurses' cottage. subject to land

being returned to Transferred to Crown by owners when no means of a proclamation longer required for under Public Works Act this purpose. 1928

1977 land revested in owners then exchanged for residential site in Murupara

2 sec.3Bl 503.0.00 2.0.22 1947 Land taken under Public Returned to owners 2 sec.3B3B 725.3.15 6.3.04 Works Act 1928 for 1949

roading 1 sec.2C 50.2.35 0.1.32 1958 Land taken under Public 1966 compensation

Works Act 1928 for arranged through (Part of Ngati sewerage plant site. Maori Trustee: Manawa £45 plus 5% Development interest from date Scheme) of taking 440

1 sec. 2A 92.3.22 24.3.04 1967 Sewerage plant; easement; 1968 compensation 0.0.32 public road. Taken under arranged through 0.1.14 Public Works Act 1928 Maori Trustee

'with the full concurrence £6650442

of the owners,441

440 District Commissioner of Works, Hamilton, to Maori Trustee, Rotorua, 20 October 1966, BBLA 4945/1378e, NA Auckland 441 Assistant District Officer, Office of the Maori Trustee, Rotorua, BBLA 494511378e, NA Auckland 442 Maori Trustee, to Messrs Davys, Burton & Henderson, Barristers & Solicitors, Rotorua, 20 June 1969, BBLA 4945/1378e, NA Auckland

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Appendix 6: Whirinaki blocks amalgamated under Ngati Manawa Development Scheme, 21 July 1960

The following Whirinaki blocks were amalgamated in 1960 as part of the Ngati Manawa Development Scheme. A number of other non-Whirinaki blocks were amalgamated with these subdivisions. The Maori Affairs Department administered this development scheme from 1960 until 1969. In 1971 the owners elected an incorporation to manage the lands.

Whirin:aki· :Slock Ar~a

I ..•.... : .... ,;. ...... : ....... . . a. r • 1>.

Whirinaki 1 1 sec. 2B 92 03 22 1 sec.2C 50 02 35 1 sec. 2J 28 02 36 1 sec.2A2B2B2 88 03 17 1 sec.2D1 16 00 20 1 sec.2D2B2B2 93 02 18 1 sec.2E1 18 03 00 1 sec.2E2B 46 01 00 1 sec.2G2C3A * * * 1 sec.2G2C3B 24 02 03 1 sec.2H2A2 16 01 12 1 sec.2H2B1 32 00 31

:. . .........

I Suh4otal.·· .. . ..... : ............ 72 ...... 03 46

Whirinaki 2 2 sec.1C 25 00 06 2 sec.1A2B2A 82 02 38 2 sec.1B1 16 03 31 2 sec.1B3A 27 03 00 2 sec.1D2 35 02 28 2 sec.3B1B2 497 00 00 2 sec.3B2A 39 03 35 2 sec.3B3A 10 02 03 2 sec.3B3B1 692 01 37

Sub total 1423 16 178

TOTAL 1500 03 18

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Appendix 7: Whirinaki Survey Liens, 1893-1966

The following list of survey charges is based on survey charging orders and applications for orders in the Waiariki Maori Land Court block order files and closed application files. Most of these charges are shown as having been discharged at a later date. Survey charges paid shortly after blocks were partitioned may not show up in the Court file records. Consequently, the list below should be treated as indicative of survey charges rather than as a full list of charges made against the Whirinaki blocks.

Block Area. Survey Lien Date of order, or ....... ':., (a.r.p) ' ... £~s.d application for order

Whirinaki 1 18,900.0.00 £399.10.06 21/7/1893 Whirinaki 2 12,600.0.00 £266.07.00

...

1 s.2 330.0.00 £1.13.06 16/5/1899 ls.4 7,221.0.00 £36.03.07 16/5/1899 2 s.l 400.0.00 £2.00.08 15/3/1899 2s.3 2,050.0.00 £10.08.02 15/5/1899 ..' : ......

... , .... '.

, .....• •.... ................. .......... . .....

1 s.2A 92.3.22 £21.08.01 9/6/1917 1 s.2B 97.0.05 £13.19.08 1 s.2C 50.2.35 £7.17.01 1 s 2D 97.3.04 £8.01.06 1 s.2E 86.2.07 £9.11.07 28/7/1917 1 s.2F 111.3.16 £13.18.04 28/7/1917

£4.13.00 -1 s.2G 26.0.03 £5.10.00 1 s.2H 58.0.36 £8.14.00 28/7/1917 1 s.2J 28.2.36 £4.17.00 28/7/1917 1 s.2K 15.1.00 £5.04.07 28/7/1917

1 s.2D1 16.0.20 £11.06.08 14/2/1922 ls.2D2 97.0.00 £23.06.10 -----------------------.------------------ -----._--------------._--------- ------._------------------------- -------------------------------.--------.--------------1 s.2D2 subdivisions £7.15.06 1958 1 s.2E1 18.3.00 £12.01.10 14/2/1922 1 s.2E2 51.1.00 £18.07.09 1 s.2H2 57.2.23 £13.10.09 20/5/1920 1 s.2K3 1 s.2D2B2B2 £7.11.06 1 s.2G £6.04.08 1 s.2H1 0.02.13 £1.10.09 20/3/1920 1 s.2H2 57.02.23 £13.10.09 20/3/1920

Continued on next page:

-138 -

BJock. Area SurveY .. :Lien Date of order '"'' (a.r.p)·· 1\

2 s.lA 129.02.28 £28.19.06 29/4/1916 2 s.lB 129.03.05 £18.07.11 2 s.le 25.00.06 £10.07.00 2 s.lD 38.03.12 £11.03.04 2 s.lE 67.01.08 £13.11.08

2 s.lB1 16.03.31 £6.09.06 26/8/1919 2 s.1B2 32.03.31 £8.08.05 2 s.lB3 77.00.00 £2.12.06 2 s.3B1 503.00.00 £31.05.10 2 s.3B2A 40.00.00 £14.18.05 20/11/1922 2 s.3B2B £22.12.01 12/7/1922 2 s.3B3 376.00.00 £4.06.03 19/3/1925 2 s.3B3A 10.02.03 £4.13.03 13/12/1926 2 s.3B3B 725.03.15 £31.16.03 2 s.3B4 £30.04.09 Re:jiJrmed blocks ..

A1 0.00.36 £25 ($50) 22/12/1966 A2 0.00.32 £25 ($50) 22/12/1966 A3 0.00.32 £25 ($50) 22/12/1966

- 139-

Sources

1. PRIMARY SOURCES

Official published

Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives New Zealand Gazette New Zealand Statutes

Waiariki Maori Land Court, Rotorua

Maori Land Court Minute Books: Whakatane, Rotorua

Block order files BOFNo. Box Blocks 2443A 1596 Whirinaki 1 2444A 1597 Whirinaki 1 sec.2 - 1 sec.2C 2445A 1598 Whirinaki 1 sec.2D - 1 sec.2F2C 2445B Whirinaki 1 sec.2D - 1 sec.2F2C 2446A 1599 Whirinaki 1 sec.2G - 1 sec.2H2B2 2446B Whirinaki 1 sec.2G - 1 sec.2H2B2 2447A 1600 Whirinaki 1 sec.2J - 1 sec.2K3B 2449A 1601 Whirinaki 1 secA -1 secAB1B 2450A 1602 Whirinaki 1 secAB2 - 1 secAB2D 2451A Whirinaki 1 secAB2E - 1 secAB2G 2452A 1603 Whirinaki 2 - 2 sec.1 2453A 1604 Whirinaki 2 sec.1A - 2 sec.1B3B 2453B Whirinaki 2 sec.1A - 2 sec.1B3B 2454A 1605 Whirinaki 2 sec.1 C - 2 sec.1E2 2455 Whirinaki 2 sec.2 2456A 1606 Whirinaki 2 sec.3 - 2 sec.3B1B2 2457A Whirinaki 2 sec.3B2 - 2 sec.3B3B 2458A 1607 Whirinaki 2 sec.3B4 - 2 sec.3B5 2459 Whirinaki 2 secA 2460 Whirinaki 3 2461 1608 Whirinaki A1 - A8 2462 Whirinaki B 2463 Whirinaki C 2464 Whirinaki D 2465 Whirinaki G

Closed Files 343 1239-1241 Closed Application Files 611 Whirinaki - Succession Order

Contents Title Titles/miscellaneous Titles Miscellaneous Titles Miscellaneous Titles/miscellaneous Titles/miscellaneous Titles/miscellaneous Titles/miscellaneous Titles Titles Miscellaneous Titles/miscellaneous Title Titles/miscellaneous Titles/miscellaneous Titles/miscellaneous Title SuccessionslTitle SuccessionslTitles SuccessionslTitles Successions/Titles Successions Successions

919 Whirinaki - Partition of Crown's interest 259 Whirinaki - Correspondence - closed 1911

260 1169

LINZ, Hamilton

Maori Land Plans ML 5422 ML 5422 (2) ML 5422 (3)

- 140-

Whirinaki - Correspondence - closed 1915 Whirinaki - Correspondence - closed 1959

Whole block - possible copy of original plan Portion of original (1896) plan Original plan (damaged) showing subdivisions

Certificates, Deeds, Transfer Documents Deed 1952 Crown Purchase Deed (5 December 1895): Whirinaki 1

Deed 5556 Deed 5563 Deed 5578 CT 861149 CT 86/150 CT 86/152

Files 6900/431 6900/517 voLl 20173 vols.1-4 201149/3 MP72

section. 1, 1 section 3, 2 section 2, 2 section 4 Whirinaki 4B2C Whirinaki 4B2E Whirinaki 4B2 1897. To Maori owners. Cancelled & 86/152 issued. 1897. To Maori owners (Whirinaki 2 section 3A) Whirinaki 1 section1 & part Whirinaki 2 section 4

Whirinaki, Heruiwi timber Whirinaki - Crown negotiations to purchase Whirinaki surveys Waiariki Consolidation Whirinaki 1 sec.4B2, Motumako

1909-1965 1909-1964 1914-1992 1960s 1965-1985

National Archives, Auckland

Maori Land Court Minute Books: Opotiki Whakatane, Rotorua, Maketu

Maori Affairs BAJJ 11192 4c Whirinaki 1 sec.4B1A 1911-1914 BAJJ 11192 7a Whirinaki 1 sec. 4B1A 1911-1914 BAJJ 11192 50g Whirinaki 2 sec.3B2 1920-1922 BAJJ 11192 55f Whirinaki 1 sec.2G 1920-1922 BAJJ 11192 69m Whirinaki 2 sec.3B3 Pt. 1920-1925 BAJJ 11192 119g Whirinaki 1, 2D, 2B2 Pt. 1956-1958 BAJJ 11195 31 Whirinaki 1 sec.2 1911-1916

Office of the Maori Trustee, Rotorua BBLA 4945/1131b 12-901 Whirinaki 1 sec.2K2 1974-1985 BBLA 494511299j 13-131 Whirinaki 2 sec. 3B4B 1954-1967 BBLA 4945/1260c 13-301 Whirinaki 1 sec. 4B2D 1960-1968 BBLA 4945/1261a 13-305 Whirinaki 1 sec.4B2B 1960-1969

- 141 -

BBLA 494511272b 13-385 Whirinaki 1 secAB2C 1960-1970 BBLA 494511273c 13-398 Whirinaki 1 secAB2E 1960-1985 BBLA 494511291f 13-568 Whirinaki 1 secAB2F 1961-1967 BBLA 4945/1320d 13-818 Whirinaki 1 secAB2A 1962-1969 BBLA 4945/1331c 13-892 Whirinaki 1 secAB2G 1963-1967 BBLA 4945/1378e 13-1454 Whirinaki Blocks Compensation 1965-1969

1 sec.2C sewage land

Lands and SurveYl Hamilton BAOB 1542/1322f 3/2468 Maori Purchase - Whirinaki & 1962-1963

Heruiwi Blocks BAOB 154211060b 311562 Pt.11 Murupara block - Crown leases 1947-1953 BAOB 15421751e 8/1133 Pt.1 Rangitahi District High School 1958-1981 BAOB 1329/243 MP 19 Whirinaki 1 secAB2

ForestrYl Rotorua Conservancy BAFK 1466/208c 18/2/231 Fletcher Timber Co. Whirinaki 1960-1970

4B2C,4B2E BAFK 1466/210b 18/2/240 Whirinaki 4B1B, Heruiwi 4A2B 1965-1970

Bay ten Timber Co. BAFK 1466/210c 18/2/240 Whirinaki 1 secAB1B 1961-1965 BAFK 1466/194e 18/21156 Minginui Transport Ltd - 1952-1960

Whirinaki 1 4B2B, 4B2D BAFK 14661195a 18/21156 Minginui Transport Ltd - 1960-1970

Whirinaki 1 4B2Bk,4B2D

Ministry of Works & DeveloQment AATE A1002/485f 36/5/3/4 District Health Nurse Murupara 1937-1948 AATE A934/121e 55/9/0 Murupara Sewage works 1955-1979

Whirinaki 1 sec.2A & 2C)

Education BAAA 1001l504a 44/4 Pt.1 Rangitahi District High School 1904-1912 BAAA 1001l505b 44/4 PtA Rangitahi District High School 1938-1945 BAAA 1001l506d 44/4 Pt.8 Rangitahi District High School 1953-1955 BAAA 1001l507a 44/4 Pt.9 Rangitahi District High School 1955-1957 BCDQ A739 7/17 Pt.1 703a Rangitahi District High School 1957-1981

National Archives, Wellington

Maori Affairs MA 1186 5/5/169 Whirinaki 1 secAB1B 1962-1965 MA 11463 2114/36 Rangitahi Native School Exchange 1937-1946 MA 11575 29/411 Ngati Manawa Consolidation 1946-1958 MAl 29/4110 Ngati Manawa Consolidation MA 1 W.2459/26 5/5/101 Whirinaki 1 secAB2 1952-1973 MA 1 W.2459/24 SIS Crown Purchases of Maori Land 1948-1961

- 142-

MA 1 W.2459/29 51101120 Murupara Project. 1954-1971 MA 1 W.2269 Bundle 6 Transfer: Whirinaki 1 secAB1B MA W2459 5/13/240 Motumako

Maori Land Purchase DeQartment MA-MLP 11897/200 Whirinaki 1 sec.1, secAB1A, 1890-1897

4B1B; 2 sec.2, sec.3A MA-MLP 11904/57 Whirinaki, Heruiwi survey liens 1899-1904 MA-MLP 119101128 Whirinaki 1 secAB1A, 4B1B; 2

sec.2, sec.3 and secA MA-MLP 11912/26 Whirinaki 1 secAB1A, 4B1B; 2

sec.2, secA AAMK 869/874c 63/43 Ngati Manawa Consolidation AAMK 869/875b 63/4311 Ngati Manawa. Motumako. 1958 AAMK 999/16 List of owners and payments. 1890s

Maori Land sold to Crown 1890s

Lands & Survey LS 115589 box.10r Whirinaki 1 secAB1A, 4B1B ABWN 6095 221782 Crown Purchases in the Whirinaki 1914-1961 W5021/972 Block ABWN 6095 10/92/110 Proposed State Forest, Whirinaki 1947-1960 W.50211301 4B1B & Heruiwi ABWN 6095 W.5021 7/801 Karatia & Whirinaki Blocks 1934-1980 ABWN 6095 W.5021 7/652v.1 Kaingaroa 1 - Motumako 1969-1982 ABWN 6095 W.5021 7/652 v.2 Kaingaroa 1 - Motumako 1969-1982 AAMX W.3529 box.3 22/284 v.1 Whirinaki 1 secAB1A, 4B1B 1964-1977 AAMX W.3529 box.3 22/284 v.2 Whirinaki 1 secAB1A, 4B1B 1980-1985

Forestry F 1 6/2/58 v.1 State Forest 58 Rotorua 1921-1944 F 1 6/2/58 v.2 State Forest 58 Rotorua 1944-1953 F 1 W.3129 1I17/2A Proposed Acquisition Crown & 1947-1949

Maori Land for State Afforestation - Kaingaroa Pt 1

F 1 W.3129 18/2/244 FletcherslBayten Timber Co. 1962-1968 Whirinaki 1 secAB1B

F 1 W.3129 18/2/226 Fletcher Timber Co. - Whirinaki 1 1960-1965 secAB2C, 4B2E

F 1 W.3129 18/2/230 Kauri Sawmills Ltd - Whirinaki 1 1961 secAB42F

F 1 W.3129 18/2/230/1 Kauri Sawmills Ltd - Whirinaki 1 1962-1963 secAB42G

F 1 W.3129 18/2/237 Kauri sawmills - Whirinaki 1 1962 secAB2A

Public Works AAQB W3950 24/2669 Public Health Nurse Murupara 1937-1971

Health ABQU 632 W 4452

- 143 -

172/21140 Public Health Nurse Murupara 71128

2. SECONDARY SOURCES

Armstrong, David, Ika Whenua and the Crown: 1865-1890 (Wai 212: E9)

1948-1985

Bennion, Tom, The Maori Land Court and Land Boards, 1909-1952, Waitangi Tribunal Rangahaua Whanui Series (working paper: first release), Wellington, July 1997

Binney, Judith, Urewera Overview Part II: 1878-1912, draft version, unreleased, July 2000

Crown Law Office, Summary Details of the Crown Acquisition of Central North Island Forest Lands, undated

Best, Elsdon, Tuhoe: The Children of the Mist, voU, Fourth Edition, Reed Books, 1996

Bird, Henry Tahawai, Kuranui-o Ngati Manawa, Rotorua, Rotorua Printers, 1980

Bright, Nicola, 'The Alienation History of the Kuhawaea No.1, No.2A, and No.2B blocks', November 1998 (Wai A36:A1)

Brooking, Tom, '''Busting Up" the Greatest Estate of All', New Zealand Journal of History, 26:1, April 1992

Loveridge, Donald, Maori Land Councils and Maori Land Boards: A Historical Overview, 1900 to 1952, Waitangi Tribunal Rangahaua Whanui Series (working paper: first release), Wellington, December 1996

Miles, Anita, Te Urewera, Waitangi Tribunal Rangahaua Whanui Series (working paper: first release), Wellington, March 1999

Murray, Jenny, Crown Policy on Maori Reserved Lands, 1840 to 1865, and Lands Restricted from Alienation, 1865 to 1900, Waitangi Tribunal Rangahaua Whanui Series (working paper: first release), Wellington, February 1997

Paul, C. Maanu, & Paul, Gwenda, 'Kaingaroa 1', Te Runanganui 0 Te Ika Whenua, Second edition, 1994 (Wai 212, B2)

Tulloch, Tracy, 'Heruiwi Blocks 1-4', report commissioned by the Waitangi Tribunal, September 2000 (RW04: #3.16)

- 144-

Ward, Alan, National Overview: Volumes I-III, Waitangi Tribunal Rangahaua Whanui Series, Wellington, 1997

Ward, Alan, An Unsettled History: Treaty Claims in New Zealand Today, Bridget Williams Books, Wellington, 1999

Williams, David V., 'Te Kooti Tango Whenua': The Native Land Court 1864-1909', Huia Publishers, Wellington, 1999

Whirinaki Blocks Document Bank

Index

Tracy Tulloch

January 2002

2

Whirinaki documents: key to index sections

A. Documents and files in existing document banks ............................................ 3

B. Waiariki Maori Land Court, Rotorua .................................................................... 3

C. MA-MLP 11897/200 (NAW): Whirinaki 1 & 2, survey liens ............................... 3

D. BAJJ 11192/4c (NAA): Whirinaki 1 section 4BIA ............................................... 4

E. MA W2269 (NA W): Whirinaki 1 section 4B IB ................................................... 5 F. MA-MLP 11910/128 (NAW): Whirinaki 1 section 4BIB ...................................... 5 G. MA 1 5/5/169 b.186 (NA W): Whirinaki 1 section 4B IB ...................................... 6

H. MA W2459 5/5/101 (NAW): Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 .......................................... 7 I. AAMX W3529 box 3 22/284 (NA W): Whirinaki 4B2, Motumako .......................... 8 J. ABWN 6095 W5021 7/652 (NAW): Motumako Reserve ...................................... 11 K. F W3I29 6/2/112 (N A W): Motumako Reserve .................................................... 12

L. MA 12114/36 (NAW): Rangitahi Native School ................................................. 12 M. BAAA 1001 504a, 507a (NAA): Rangitahi Native School .................................. 13 N. BCDQ A7391703a (NAA): Rangitahi School, public nurse's cottage .................... 13 O. AAQB W3950 24/2669 (NAW): Public health nurse's cottage ............................ 14 P. BBLA 4945/1378e (NAA): Public works, land taken for sewerage purposes ........ 14

Q. BAJJ 11192 files (NAA): Private alienations, gifts .............................................. 15

R. Land Information New Zealand, Hamilton .................................................... 16 S. Oversized documents, LINZ, Hamilton ............................................................... 17

LINZ WMLC NAA NAW BOF CA CF CCF CT

Abbreviations

Land Information New Zealand Waiariki Maori Land Court, Rotorua National Archives, Auckland National Archives, Wellington Block Order File Closed Applications Closed File Closed Correspondence File Certificate of Title

3

Document Bank Index

A. Documents and files in existing document banks

Block Document/File Date Document Bank Whirinaki 1 sections 1 & 3 Crown Purchase 4 December 1895 Wai 212 DOC #C3a Whirinaki 2 sections 2 & 4 Deed 1952 voU, F.I-19 Motumako MA W2459 1895-1940 Wai 212 B2(g) vol.7,

5/13/240 (NA W) no.4, pp.40-126

B. Waiariki Maori Land Court, Rotorua

Description Closedfile series 259 B.l Whirinaki Rawiri Parakiri & others, Ngati Manawa, to 22 February 1884 (a-b) Chief Judge, Native Land Court. Asking that

Whirinaki hearing be held at Te Teko. B.2 Whirinaki Henry Mitchell (?), licensed interpreter, to 25 February 1884

Native Land Court. Supporting Maori request that hearings be held at Te Teko.

B.3 Whirinaki Alfred Preece to Registrar, Native Land Court. 5 April 1884 Stating that Te Teko is not a suitable place for a Court hearing. Recommends Whakatane.

B.4 Whirinaki RSW Fraser (?) to Maori Land Court. Stating 15 April 1884 that Te Teko is a suitable place for a Court hearing.

B.5 Whirinaki Harehare Atarea and others of Ngati Manawa. 3 October 1885 (a-d) Asking that lands be adjudicated upon at

Galatea or Te Teko (translation & original letter in Maori).

B.6 Whirinaki Kareko Whakaki and others, Ngati Manawa, 24 Akuhata 1889 (a-b) asking that Whirinaki hearing be held in

Whakatane. B.7 Whirinaki W Gudgeon, Judge, to Chief Judge. 19 May 1891 (a-b) Regarding title investigation and awards made

1890. Justifying decision to award 3/5 to Ngati Apa and 2/5 to Ngati Manawa.

B.8 Whirinaki Henry Mitchell, Surveyor, and Alfred Yates, 4 February 1893 (a-i) Assistant Surveyor, to Chief Judge. Report on

locations of landmarks and cultivations etc pointed out by claimants to Whirinaki, 1893.

C. MA-MLP 11897/200 (NAW): Whirinaki 1 & 2, survey liens

Personalities: Hon. J. Carroll Member of Executive Council, 1893-1906 Native Minister, 1899-1908

P Sheridan RJ Gill

Member for Waiapu, 1893-1908 Native Land Purchase Department official Land purchase officer

D oc. Bl k oc D ·f escflOllOn C.l Whirinaki Albert Warbrick, Matata, to Hon. James (a-b) Carroll. Requesting that Ponaua, 'our

ancestral home', in Whirinaki block be set aside for himself and others

C.2 Whirinaki RJ Gill to P Sheridan. Note on file cover stating Warbrick (above) and family have not lived on Whirinaki land and should direct their request to the Native Land Court.

C.3 Whirinaki Harehare Atarea and others to Hon, J Carroll regarding increasing non-sellers' land from 400 to 1000 acres (in Maori).

CA Whirinaki Translation of above with note from Carroll to Sheridan.

C.5 Whirinaki Sheridan to Gill. Notes on file cover regarding Harehare Atarea's request for land for non-sellers to be increased to 1000 acres. Suggests the answer is in the Maori owners own hands.

C.6 Whirinaki Sheridan to Gill. Directing Gill to make sure interest on survey liens is included if land is taken in lieu of liens on the Whirinaki blocks. Also directing that the cost of separating out the Crown's interests from the non-sellers' interests is not to be ~art of the settlement.

C.7 Whirinaki Gill to Sheridan. Interest not included when Crown interests partitioned out of Whirinaki in lieu of survey liens.

C.8 Whirinaki 1 Gill to Sheridan. Regarding land purchased &2 and land taken in lieu of survey liens.

C.9 Whirinaki 1 Sheridan to Surveyor-general. Blocks &2 retained by Maori to be charged with 'a

reasonable proportion' of new partition surveys.

C.I0 Whirinaki 1 Hohepa Poia to Minister for Crown Lands. (a-b) &2 Regarding survey of non-sellers' lands and

possible boundary errors (in Maori) C.ll Whirinaki 1 Translation of above. (a-b) &2 C.12 Whirinaki 1 Gill to Sheridan. Notes on file cover

&2 responding to Hohepa Poia's claims regarding survey_ of non-sellers' land.

C.13 Whirinaki 1 Hohepa Poia to surveyor-general. Suggesting (a-b) &2 surveyor has erred in drawing boundary lines

(in Maori) C.14 Whirinaki 1 Translation of above. Note from Sheridan

&2 suggested complaint is unfounded.

D. BAJJ 11192/4c (NAA): Whirinaki 1 section 4BIA

Whirinaki 1 section 4BIA

Descri tion Crown offer to purchase at capital value.

4

D ate 18 July 1895

5 August 1895

3 November 1895

3 November 1895

? November 1895

5 December 1895

7 December 1895

19 December 1895

29 July 1897

12 August 1897

12 August 1897

20 October 1897

12 August 1897

12 August 1897

25 June 1914

5

D.2 Whirinaki 1 Minutes of assembled owner meeting. 14 September 1914 section 4BIA

D.3 Whirinaki 1 Waiariki Maori Land Board. Confirmation of 14 October 1914. section 4BIA resolution to sell.

DA Whirinaki 1 Under-secretary, Native Department, to 9 November 1914 section 4BIA President, Waiariki District Maori Land

Board. Regarding Native Land Purchase Board's adoption of resolution to sell.

E. MA W2269 (NAW): Whirinaki 1 section 4B1B

D oc. Bl k oc D escnptlOn D ate E.l Whirinaki 1 List of non-sellers undated

section 4B1B E.2 Whirinaki 1 List of sellers undated

section 4BIB E.3 Whirinaki 1 Memorandum of Transfer 1927-1929 {a-e} section 4B IB

F. MA-MLP 11910/128 (NAW): Whirinaki 1 section 4B1B

D oc. Bl k oc D 'f escnOllOn D ate F.l Whirinaki 1 WR Bird to A.T. Ngata: offering land for sale 7 August 1910

section 4Bl to Crown F.2 Whirinaki 1 Under-secretary, Native Land Purchase 24 July 1911

section 4Bl Department, to W Bird. Reporting on defeat of resolution to sell to Crown and the need for willing sellers' interests to be partitioned out of the block.

F.3 Whirinaki 1 Mrs E. Murphy to Native Minister. Urging 6 September 1913 {a-b} section 4BIA Crown purchase of 4BIA. FA Whirinaki 1 J.R. Bird to under-secretary, Native Lands. 1 February 1914 {a-b} section 4BIA Urging Crown purchase of 4BIA. F.5 Whirinaki 1 Valuer General to under-secretary, Native 8 April 1914

section Department. Reporting on valuation of 4BIA 4B1A,4BIB and 4BIB.

F.6 Whirinaki 1 JR Bird to under-secretary, Native Affairs. 22 June 1914 {a-b} section 4B lA Providing details of willing sellers. F.7 Whirinaki 1 Waiariki Maori Land Board confirmation of 14 October 1914

section 4BIA resolution to sell land to Crown passed by meetinK of assembled owners.

F.8 Whirinaki 1 Under-secretary, Native Department, to 9 November 1914 section 4BIA President Waiariki District Maori Land

Board. Native Land Purchase Board has agreed to adopt Maori sellers' resolution to sell land to Crown. Cheque for £500 enclosed.

F.9 Whirinaki 1 Minutes of assembled owners meeting 1 May 1915 section 4BIB considering resolution to sell to Crown.

Resolution rejected.

6

F.10 Whirinaki 1 Minutes of assembled owners meeting 1 May 1915 section 4B2 considering resolution to sell to Crown.

Resolution to sell at Crown's price rejected, higher price proposed.

F.ll Whirinaki 1 Under-secretary, Native Lands, to under- 4 August 1915 sections secretary, Lands & Survey. Reporting on 4B1B &4B2 Maori owners refusal to sell at government

valuation. F.12 Whirinaki 1 Registrar, Waiariki Maori Land Court, to 2 June 1963

section 4B1B under-secretary, Native Department. Informing of Maori owners wish to sell land to Crown 'for a reasonable price'.

F.13 Whirinaki 1 Native land purchase officer reporting on 3 November 1923 section 4BIB Maori owners rejection of Crown offer but

willingness to sell at a higher price. F.14 Whirinaki 1 Native land purchase officer to under- 28 July 1924

section 4B 1B secretary, Native Department. Reporting that owners wish to sell at 7s 6d per acre.

F.15 Whirinaki 1 WH Bird to Conservator of Forests. Offering 18 November 1924 section 4BIB to sell block for 7s 6d.

F.16 Whirinaki 1 Native land purchase officer to under- 23 March 1925 section 4B 1B secretary, Native Department. Reporting that

owners reject Crown offer of 7s 6d. Suggestion that individuals shares be purchased.

F.17 Whirinaki 1 Registrar, Waiariki Maori Land Court, to 21 March 1925 section 4B 1B under-secretary, Native Department.

Reporting on owners' change of mind regarding sale of block.

F.18 Whirinaki 1 Native land purchase officer to under- 5 June 1925 section 4B1B secretary, Native Department. Explaining

owners' change of mind regarding sale of block. Suggests owners will 'fall into line' if individual shares are purchased.

F.19 Whirinaki 1 Under-secretary, Native Department, to land 3 March 1926 section 4B1B purchase officer. Asking officer to negotiate

for the purchase of individual interests. F.20 Whirinaki Minutes of Ngati Manawa deputation which 19 March 1958 (a-d) waited on the Minister of Forests. Raising

concerns regarding Ngati Manawa Development Scheme, development of Ngahuinga, return of Whirinaki and Heruiwi blocks, Motumako.

G. MA 15/5/169 h.186 (NAW): Whirinaki 1 section 4B1B

D oc. Bl k oc D escnotlOn D ate G.1 Whirinaki 1 Director-general, Lands, to Secretary for 25 November 1963

section 4B1B Maori Affairs. Regarding exchange of Crown land for remaining Maori shares in 4B lB.

G.2 Waiohau B Plan of block - proposed to be exchanged for Undated. Enclosed section 9 interests in Whirinaki 1 section 4B IB with G.1

7

G.3 Paeroa East Plan of block - proposed to be exchanged for Undated. Enclosed 4B1B1 interests in Whirinaki 1 section 4B1B with G.1

GA Whirinaki 1 Board of Maori Affairs approval of proposed 18 December 1963 (a-b) section 4B 1B acquisition of 4B1B by way of land exchange. G.5 Whirinaki 1 Extract from Whakatane MLC minute book 15 April 1964

section 4B1B 33, fols 284-287. Regarding resolution for exchanges between Maori and Crown.

G.6 Whirinaki 1 Court order confirming resolution of 15 April 1964 section 4B1B assembled owners to exchange land for

Crown land. G.7 Whirinaki 1 Board of Maori Affairs adoption of resolution 4 June 1964

section 4B1B of assembled owners.

H. MA W2459 5/5/101 (NAW): Whirinaki 1 section 4B2

D oc. Bl k oc D ·f escnpllon D t ae H.1 Whirinaki 1 Board of Maori Affairs approval for proposed 6 March 1953

section 4B2 Crown purchase of 4B2A, 4B2C, 4B2E H.2 Whirinaki 1 Director-general, Lands & Survey, to 20 September 1965

section 4B2 Secretary for Maori Affairs. Regarding proposed Crown purchase and 1965 ti0vernment valuations of blocks.

H.3 Whirinaki 1 Board of Maori Affairs approval for proposed 11 October 1965 (a-b) section 4B2 Crown purchase of 4B2 blocks. HA Whirinaki 1 Director-general, Lands & Survey, to 16 December 1965

section 4B2C Secretary for Maori Affairs. Regarding 4B2C owners' acceptance of Crown offer.

H.5 Whirinaki 1 Director-general, Lands & Survey, to 17 March 1966 section 4B2C Secretary for Maori Affairs. Reference to

4B2C memorandum of transfer (Auckland Deed 5556)

H.6 Whirinaki 1 Memorandum of Transfer: Crown purchase of 1966-1967 section 4B2B undivided shares

H.7 Whirinaki 1 Memorandum of Transfer: Crown purchase of 1966 section 4B2D undivided shares

H.8 Whirinaki 1 Director-general, Lands & Survey, to 5 November 1968 (a-b) section 4B2 Secretary for Maori and Islands Affairs.

Regarding proposed exchange of Crown land for Maori land. Enclosing plans showing areas.

H.9 Whirinaki 1 Plan (1) of proposed Crown-Maori land Undated (1968) section 4B2 exchange areas.

H.10 Whirinaki 1 Plan (2) of proposed Crown-Maori land Undated (1968) section 4B2 exchange areas.

H.ll Whirinaki 1 Plan (3) of proposed Crown-Maori land Undated (1968) section 4B2 exchange areas.

H.12 Whirinaki 1 Board of Maori Affairs approval for proposed 1968 (a-b) section 4B2 Crown acquisition of 4B2A, 4B2B, 4B2D,

4B2F and 4B2G through a land exchange. H.13 Whirinaki 1 B Briffault, Lands & Survey. Note for file 24 March 1969 (a-c) section 4B2 regarding exchange proposals and suggestion

that Motumako be included in anL settlement.

8

R.14 Whirinaki 1 Board of Maori Affairs approval for proposed 17 October 1969 (a-e) section 4B2 Crown acquisition of 4B2A, 4B2B, 4B2D,

4B2F and 4B2G through a land exchange. R.lS Whirinaki 1 Rural District Valuer to Commissioner of 17 April 1942

section 4B2 Crown Lands. Regarding extent of shares purchased by Crown in 4B2 blocks.

R.16 Whirinaki 1 Board of Maori Affairs approval for proposed 24 July 1973 (a-c) section 4B2 Crown acquisition of 4B2A, 4B2B, 4B2D,

4B2F and 4B2G through a land exchange.

I. AAMX W3529 box 3 22/284 (NA W): Whirinaki 4B2, Motumako

Doc. Description Volume! I.1 Whirinaki 1 Director-General, Forestry, to Director- 17 May 1965

section 4B2 General, Lands & Survey. Regarding fire hazard posed by blocks. Describes blocks.

I.2 Whirinaki 1 Director-General, Forestry, to Director- 27 July 1965 section 4B2 General, Lands & Survey. Asking that land

be acquired for Forest Service on grounds of safety for Kaingaroa forest and for value as potential planting land.

I.3 Whirinaki 1 Commissioner of Crown Lands to Director- 6 September 1965 (a-c) section 4B2 General, Lands & Survey. Memorandum

regarding inspection and valuation of blocks, and copy of rural valuation and short report (May 1965).

1.4 Whirinaki 1 Board of Maori Affairs. Approval of 11 October 1965 (a-b) section 4B2 J)roposed acquisition of Maori land. I.5 Whirinaki 1 Commissioner of Crown Lands to Director- 27 October 1965

section 4B2C General, Lands & Survey. Regarding use of memorandum of transfer to acquire 4B2C interests at £3 per acre.

I.6 Whirinaki 1 Commissioner of Crown Lands to Director- 1 December 1965 section 4B2C General, Lands & Survey. Regarding owners'

acceptance of Crown offer. I.7 Whirinaki 1 Commissioner of Crown Lands to Director- 29 June 1966

section 4B2 General, Lands & Survey. Regarding competition from private purchasers for blocks & implications for land value.

I.8 Whirinaki 1 Commissioner of Crown Lands to Director- 18 July 1966 section 4B2E General, Lands & Survey. Commissioner of

Crown Lands to Director-General, Lands & Survey. Regarding use of memorandum of transfer to acquire 4B2E interests at £3 per acre.

I.9 Whirinaki 1 Commissioner of Crown Lands to Director- 9 August 1966 (a-b) section 4B2 General, Lands & Survey. Reporting on

meetings of assembled owners and owners' rejection of resolutions to sell land. Advising purchase of undefined shares in 4B2 blocks.

I.10 Whirinaki 1 Copy of Recording Officers' minut4es for 8 August 1966 (a-e) section 4B2 meetings of assembled owners in 4B2 blocks.

9

I.l1 Whirinaki 1 Commissioner of Crown Lands to Director- 28 October 1966 (a-c) section 4B2 General, Forests. Cover letter and schedule

showing undivided interests 'so far purchased' in 4B2 blocks.

I.l2 Whirinaki 1 Commissioner of Crown Lands to Director- 6 October 1967 section 4B2 General, Lands & Survey. Regarding creation

of 'hard core' of non-sellers, and possibility of exchanging Crown land for outstanding Maori interests.

I.l3 Whirinaki 1 Chief Surveyor to Director-General, Lands. 6 August 1968 (a-b) section 4B2 Regarding block valuations and proposed

exchange area (3000 acres). Map of exchange area enclosed.

I.l4 Whirinaki 1 Board of Maori Affairs. Approval of proposed 13 November 1968 (a-b) section 4B2 acquisition of Maori land through land

exchange. I.l5 Whirinaki 1 M.D. Bird, for Ngati Manawa, to Minister of 25 February 1969

section 4B2 Lands. Proposing exchange of Crown & Motumako interests in 4B2 blocks for Motumako (part of

letter only). I.l6 Whirinaki 1 Commissioner of Crown Lands to Director- 10 March 1969 (a-c) section 4B2 General, Lands. Reporting on negotiations

with Ngati Manawa regarding exchange ~oposals.

I.l7 Whirinaki 1 B Briffault, Maori Land Division, note for 14 March 1969 (a-b) section 4B2 file. Regarding Motumako reserve and

& Motumako representations made by Mr Bird. I.l8 Whirinaki 1 B Briffault, Maori Land Division, note for 24 March 1969 (a-c) section 4B2 file. Summarising negotiations with 4B2

& Motumako owners and discussions amongst Crown officials regarding 4B2 and Motumako.

I.l9 Whirinaki 1 Minister of Lands to M.D. Bird, Secretary, 2 April 1969 section 4B2 Ngati Manawa Advisory Committee. Stating & Motumako that some owners apparently wish to sell their

interests. 1.20 Whirinaki 1 M.D. Bird, Secretary, Ngati Manawa 23 April 1969

section 4B2 Advisory Committee, to Minister of Lands. & Motumako Noting majority of 4B2 owners wish to retain

their interests. 1.21 Whirinaki 1 Commissioner of Crown Lands to Director- 20 November 1972 (a-d) section 4B2 General, Lands. Cover letter, map and draft

application to Maori Land Court regarding exchange of Maori interests for Crown land.

1.22 Whirinaki 1 Board of Maori Affairs. Approval of 24 July 1973 (a-c) section 4B2 proposed exchange of Crown and Maori

Lands. 1.23 Whirinaki 1 Chief Surveyor to Director-General, Lands. 14 November 1973 (a-c) section 4B2 Cover letter and plan showing Whirinaki

divided into 3 areas: Area 1, Crown land; Area 2 4B2 blocks; Area 3, Crown land (Whirinaki 4B1A, 4B1B & Heruiwi blocks)

10

1.24 Whirinaki 1 Commissioner of Crown Lands to Director- 2 April 1975 (a-b) section 4B2 General, Lands. Regarding state of

n~otiations with Maori owners. I.25 Whirinaki 1 M.D. Bird, Chairman of Proprietors, 16 September 1975 (a-c) section 4B2 Ngatimanawa Tribal Lands, to M. Rata,

& Motumako Minister of Maori Affairs. Regarding ongoing 4B2 exchange negotiations. Suggesting that Crown proposals are inadequate.

I.26 Whirinaki 1 M. Rata, Minister of Maori Affairs, to M.D. 4 November 1975 section 4B2 Bird, Chairman of Proprietors, Ngatimanawa & Motumako Tribal Lands. ReIJ!y to above.

I.27 Whirinaki 1 M.D. Bird, Chairman of Proprietors, 10 November 1975 section 4B2 Ngatimanawa Tribal Lands, to Commissioner & Motumako of Crown Lands. Reporting on rejection of

Crown's 'final offer' to settle Whirinaki and Motumako issues. Offering new pr~gosal.

Volume!! I.28 Whirinaki 1 Minutes of meeting of 4B2 owners at 21 October 1979 (a-c) section 4B2 Rangitahi Pa, Murupara. Regarding

& Motumako NgahuingalMotumako negotiations and proposals.

I.29 Whirinaki 1 M.D. Bird, Chairman, Ngati Manawa 1 March 1981 (a-b) section 4B2 Negotiating Committee, to B Couch, Minister

& Motumako of Maori Affairs. Regarding application to Maori Land Court to amalgamate N gahuinga blocks, and proposing MotumakolNgahuinga exchange.

I.30 Whirinaki 1 Crown applications to Maori Land Court 15 April 1981 (a-h) section 4B2 regarding Motumako and Whirinaki 4B2.

& Motumako Contains details of the Crown's version of past events and negotiations.

1.31 Whirinaki 1 MD Bird, Chairman, Ngati Manawa 23 April 1981 (a-b) section 4B2 Negotiating Committee, to B Couch, Minister

& Motumako of Maori Affairs. Response to Crown's application to Maori Land Court.

1.32 Whirinaki 1 J Canning, for Conservator of Forests, to 19 May 1981 section 4B2 Commissioner of Crown Lands. Advising & Motumako acceptance of MD Bird's proposals with

certain provisos. 1.33 Whirinaki 1 Commissioner of Crown Lands to Director- 13 June 1981

section 4B2 General, Lands. Regarding Crown & Motumako concurrence with MD Bird'sQroQosals.

I.34 Whirinaki 1 Minister of Lands to Minister of Maori 29 July 1981 section 4B2 Affairs (copy). Regarding Land Settlement & Motumako Board approval of agreement reached between

Maori owners and Crown.

11

J. ABWN 6095 W5021 7/652 (NA W): Motumako Reserve

Doc. Block Description Volume L box.246 J.1 Motumako Copy of Petition No.224/1927 from Ngati 1 July 1927 (a-b) Manawa claiming Motumako J.2 Under-secretary, Native Department, to 30 November 1928

Under-secretary, Lands. Regarding arranging for compensation area to be found for Motumako.

J.3 Commissioner of Crown Lands to Under- 22 December 1928 secretary, Lands. Suggesting Motumako and Oruatewehi are identical.

J.4 Chief Surveyor to Chief Judge, Native 3 December 1926 Department. Regarding whether Motumako and Oruatewehi are identical (copy).

J.5 Commissioner of Crown Lands to Under- 11 September 1931 (a-c) secretary, Lands. Summarising history of

Kaingaroa reserves. Encloses portion of county map showing Oruatewehi (part Kaingaroa 1) and 500 acres said to be Motumako.

J.6 WC Bird, Junior, to Acting Native Minister. 3 March 1938 (a-c) Regarding Motumako claimants' rejection of

Crown settlement offer. J.7 Commissioner of Crown Lands to Under- 10 May 1938 (a-b) secretary, Lands. Alleging inaccuracies in

WC Bird letter. J.8 Acting Native Minister to WH Bird. Stating 30 June 1968 (a-b) Crown is offering a maximum of 100 acres of

Crown land to settle Motumako issue. J.9 Minister of Maori Affairs to Mr Pouwhare. 16 March 1960

Stating that Crown still considers settlement offer of 100 acres for Motumako 'reasonable and equitable'.

J.10 MD Bird, Secretary, Ngati Manawa Advisory 2 May 1960 (a-b) Committee, to Minister of Lands. Rejecting

offer of 100 acres. J.11 Minister of Lands to MD Bird. Offering 100 29 May 1961

acres plus £1000 in settlement of Motumako grievance (copy)

J.12 MD Bird to Minister of Lands. Rejecting 6 June 1961 (a-b) Crown offer. Volume IL box.247 J.13 Motumako Minister of Maori Affairs to Minister of 26 September 1973

Lands. Suggesting that Crown needs to take 'a generous view' regarding Motumako compensation and bring the matter to an end.

J.14 Plans showing locations of Motumako, Undated (a-b) Murupara, Whirinaki 1 section 4B2 blocks,

and Te Whaiti J.15 Unsigned file note summarising history of 15 August 1969 (a-d) Motumako claim.

12

J.16 Plan showing location of Motumako relative Undated to Murupara

J.17 B Briffault, Maori Land Division. Summary 16 October 1972 (a-b) of Motumako history. J.18 Rural District Valuer to Commissioner of 26 March 1973

Crown Lands. Valuation of Motumako.

K. F W3129 6/2/1/2 (NAW): Motumako Reserve

D oc. Bl k oc D eSCrIotlon D ate K.1 Motumako Messrs Carter & Speer, Solicitors, to 15 April 1930

Conservator of Forests. Stating that Ngati Manawa clients' wish that planting on block should cease.

K.2 RN Jones, Under-secretary, Native 5 January 1931 Department, to Messrs Carter & Speer, Solicitors. Regarding deadlock in settling Motumako grievance.

K.3 AJHR, 1926: report and recommendation on 1926 (a-d) petition of Wharehuia Heta and 38 others

relative to Kaingaroa 1 block (Reports of Judges Holland and Jones on Motumako).

K.4 Director of Forestry to Under-secretary, 9 February 1933 Native Department. Regarding fire risk posed by Motumako.

K.5 Conservator of Forests, Rotorua, to Director 1 April 1933 of Forestry. Regarding Maori claimants' threats to set fire to block.

K.6 WC Bird, Ngati Manawa, to Acting Native 3 March 1938 (a-c) Minister, regarding Maori view of history of

Motumako reserve; and rej ection of Crown offer of 100 acres.

K.7 Conservator of Forests to Director of Forestry. 7 June 1938 (a-b) Regarding allegations that timber taken from

block and extent of timber on Motumako. K.8 J Canning, for Conservator of Forests, to 19 October 1972 (a-d) Head Office. Report of history of Motumako

block.

L. MA 12114/36 (NAW): Rangitahi Native School

D oc. BI k oc D eSCrIotlOn D ate L.1 Whirinaki 1 Extract from 'Rotorua Post' reporting on 23 February 1956

section 2F public meeting regarding future of Rangitahi School and transfer of administration of school to South Auckland Education Board.

L.2 Whirinaki 1 Minutes of Ngati Manawa deputation to 11 December 1959 (a-c) section 2F Prime Minister. Obj ecting to taking of land

for school using public works legislation. L.3 Whirinaki 1 Prime Minister to Mr Bird. Regarding use of 16 February 1960

section 2F public works legislation to take land for school, with owners' agreement.

13

M. BAAA 1001 504a, 507a (NAA): Rangitahi Native School

D oc. Bl k oc D ·f escnOllOn D ate BAAA lOO1504a M.1 Whirinaki 1 Secretary for Education to WH Bird, 25 October 1909

section 2F Murupara. Government accepts site offered by Maori for a school but requires a written agreement signed by the donors.

M.2 Whirinaki 1 WH Bird to Mr Bird (Inspector of Schools), 17 December 1909 section 2F enclosing document gifting land and signed

by donors. BAAA lOO1507a M.3 Whirinaki 1 Maori Schools Officer to Resident Officer, 25 June 1956 (a-b) section 2F2C Department of Maori Affairs. Reporting that

Maori owners of adj acent land are prepared to exchange 15 acres adjoining the school for 315 acres near Galatea, subject to suitable adjustments. Plan of Galatea area attached.

MA Whirinaki 1 Extract from Rotorua Minute Book 55 fol. 5 October 1911 section 2 346-7. Order issued that no compensation to

be paid for land gifted for school.

N. BCDQ A7391703a (NAA): Rangitahi School, public nurse's cottage

D oc. Bl k oc D escnptlOn D ate N.1 Whirinaki 1 Minister of Education to Minister of Maori 27 January 1960

section 2F Affairs. Regarding use of public works legislation to take additional land for school, with consent of Maori owners.

N.2 Whirinaki 1 HT Bird to Minister of Maori Affairs. 22 April 1960 section 2F Claiming that Crown agreed to give 300 acres

in exchange for 15 acres of additional Maori-owned land for school site.

N.3 Whirinaki 1 Commissioner of Crown Lands to District 4 August 1960 section 2F Administrative Officer, Department of

Education. Querying Maori claim that Crown was to give 304 acres in exchange for additional land taken for school.

NA Whirinaki 1 District Executive Officer to Commissioner of 15 August 1960 section 2F Crown Lands. Stating the Maori owners and

Crown officials were prepared to exchange land on a valuation basis.

N.5 Whirinaki 1 Minister of Education to Minister of Maori 11 October 1960 section 2F Affairs. Stating that exchange was to be

based on land values. N.6 Whirinaki 1 Office of Minister of Lands to Minister of 27 September 1960

section 2F Maori Affairs. Supports arguments that land to be exchanKed on a valuation basis.

N.7 Whirinaki 1 Extract from Rotorua Minute Book 130 fols 27 May 1965 (a-b) section 2F2C 298-302. Awarding compensation for taking

of additional land for school. N.8 Whirinaki 1 Work-Authority Requisition. £1413.14.0 to 1 July 1965

section 2F2 be paid to Maori Trustee (compensation for additional land taken for school)

14

N.9 Whirinaki 1 Land Purchase Officer to District 8 September 1967 section 2F2 Commissioner of Works. Recommending

payment of $1308.10 for additional land taken for school site.

N.I0 Whirinaki 1 Work-Authority Requisition. Payment of 8 December 1967 section 2F2 $1308.10 for additional land taken for school

site. N.ll Whirinaki 1 Assistant Land Purchase Officer to District 19 September 1977 (a-b) section 2Fl Commissioner of Works. Regarding transfer

of nurse's cottage site to Department of Education and Maori owners' agreement to accept Crown land in exchange.

O. AAQB W3950 24/2669 (NA W): Public health nurse's cottage

D oc. BI k oc D 'f eSCflOllon D ate 0.1 Whirinaki 1 Assistant under-secretary, Public Works, to 1943

section 2Fl Registrar, Native Land Court, Rotorua. Seeking nil award to Maori owners for land donated for public health nurse's cottage.

0.2 Whirinaki 1 Deputy Registrar, Native Land Court, to 19 March 1943 section 2F1 Assistant under-secretary, Public Works.

Reporting Judge's comment agreeing to nil award with proviso.

0.3 Whirinaki 1 Court order declaring nil compensation 5 July 1943 section 2F1 provided land is returned to Maori owners

when no longer required for a nurse's cottage. 0.4 Whirinaki 1 Commissioner of Works, to District 29 September 1971

section 2Fl Commissioner of Works, Hamilton. Directing that no formal action for disposal be taken but compensation to be arranged to have land set apart for education purposes.

P. BBLA 4945/1378e (NAA): Public works, land taken for sewerage purposes

D oc. BI k oc D escflotIon D ate P.l Whirinaki 1 HT Bird, Ngati Manawa Advisory 14 February 1966 (a-b) sections 2A, Committee, to HN Davy, District Officer,

2C Maori Affairs. Agreeing that Maori Trustee should negotiate with District Commissioner of Works to settle compensation for land taken for old sewerage plant (1 acre 13.2 ~erches taken 1958 under Public Works Act)

P.2 Whirinaki 1 Valuation Department, Special Valuation 1958 sections 2A, Report. Valuing land taken at £45. 2C

P.3 Whirinaki 1 Maori Trustee to H Bird, Ngati Manawa 21 July 1966 sections 2A, Advisory Committee. Asking if settlement of 2C £45 plus 5% interest for 9 years satisfactory.

P.4 Whirinaki 1 Note on letter to Mr Bird from Maori Trustee 26 August 1966 sections 2A, stating that Mr Bird had stated that he was 2C satisfied with the proposed settlement.

15

P.5 Whirinaki 1 Maori Trust Office to Deputy Registrar, 3 May 1967 sections 2A, Maori Land Court. Stating that compensation 2C has been paid.

P.6 Whirinaki 1 Valuation Department. Report on value of 24 April 1968 section 2A additional land taken for sewerage purposes

(approximately 25 acres valued at $6,650) P.7 Whirinaki 1 Assistant District Officer, Maori Affairs, file 13 June 1968

section 2A note. Recommending that settlement of $6650 plus interest at 5% from date of entry be accepted.

P.8 Whirinaki 1 Maori Trustee, Rotorua, to Head Office. 18 September 1968 section 2A Approval given to settling compensation at

$6650 plus interest at 5% from date of entry. P.9 Whirinaki 1 Town Clerk, Borough of Murupara, to Messrs 7 October 1968

section 2A Davys, Burton & Henderson, Barristers & Solicitors, Rotorua. Enclosing compensation cheque for $6650 but suggesting Council unlikely to pay the additional 5%.

P.10 Whirinaki 1 Assistant District Officer, Maori Affairs, to 9 June 1969 section 2A Head Office. Advising $6650 be accepted as

full settlement of compensation claim. P.ll Whirinaki 1 Maori Trustee to Davys, Burton & 20 June 1969

section 2A Henderson, Barristers & Solicitors, Rotorua. Informing of Trustee's acceptance of $6650 in full settlement of compensation claim.

Q. BAJJ 11192 files (NAA): Private alienations, gifts

D oc. Bl k oc D 'f eSCflP1lOn D t ae BAJJ 111921119g Q.1 Whirinaki 1 Extract from Rotorua Minute Book 104 fol 25 July 1956

section 2D 130. Regarding part of block cut out for 2B 2B 1 gifting for Roman Catholic church site.

Q.2 Whirinaki 1 Extract from Rotorua Minute Book 103 fol 28 March 1958 section 2D 178. Confirmation of transfer of gifted block 2B 2B 1 to Roman Catholic Bishop.

BAJJ 11192155/ Q.3 Whirinaki 1 Copy of certificate of confirmation of 5 December 1922

section 2G alienation of interests to T. Anderson. Q.4 Whirinaki 1 Copy of memorandum of transfer. 1920-1921 (a-c) section 2G Q.5 Whirinaki 1 Waiariki District Maori Land Board, file 5-14 December

section 2G cover sheet. Memos regarding confirmation 1922 of alienated interests.

BAJJ 11192150g Q.6 Whirinaki 2 Minutes of assembled owner meeting 12 February 1921 (a-c) section 3B2 considering resolution to sell block to T.

Anderson. Resolution to sell carried by majority vote.

Q.7 Whirinaki 2 Memorials of dissent from resolution of 12 February 1921 (a-b) section 3B2 assembled owners.

16

Q.8 Whirinaki 2 Albert Warbrick to Judge Ayson, Native Land 2 May 1921 (a-b) section 3B2 Court. Expressing opposition to alienation. Q.9 Whirinaki 2 Maori Land Board confirmation of resolution 19 November 1921

section 3B2 passed by assembled owners. Cutting out interests of dissenting parties.

Q.I0 Whirinaki 2 Copy of memorandum of transfer. 13 February 1922 (a-b) section 3B2B BAJJ 11192169m Q.11 Whirinaki 2 Copies of certificates of confirmation (3) of 1920-1922 (a-c) section 3B3 alienation of Maori interests to H Katene. Q.12 Whirinaki 2 Copy of memorandum of transfer. 1920 (a-b) section 3B3 Q.13 Whirinaki 2 Urquhart & Roe, Solicitors, Rotorua, to 23 February 1925

section 3B3 Registrar, Waiariki Maori Land Board. Cover letter regarding documents submitted with application for confirmation of alienation of Paora Te Whaiti's interests to H Katene.

Q.14 Whirinaki 2 Office of Waiariki Maori Land Board, to 1 April 1925 section 3B3 Urquhart & Roe, Solicitors, Rotorua.

Returning deed with certificate of confirmation endorsed.

R. Land Information New Zealand, Hamilton

Description

Certificates oj Title, Deeds, Plans R.l Whirinaki 1 CT 86/149 22 September 1897 (a-h) Title awarded to Maori owners. Part

cancelled. R.2 Whirinaki 2 CT 86/150 22 September 1897 (a-e) Title awarded to Maori owners. Part

cancelled. R.3 Whirinaki CT 86/152 22 September 1897 (a-c) Title to lands acquired by Crown (21,499

acres) RA Ngahuinga CT 48C/363 30 May 1991 (a-b) R.5 Ngatimanawa ML 20829 November 1973

B4 Plan showing Whirinaki 1 section 2 and Whirinaki 2 section 1 blocks amalgamated under Ngati Manawa Development Scheme.

R.6 Ngahuinga ML 21701 10 December 1984 Plan showing amalgamated Ngahuinga block and old Whirinaki 4B2 block boundaries.

LINZjiles R.7 Ngahuinga LINZ file 6900173, vol.III 17 November 1981 (a-b) Extract from Rotorua MLC minute book 201,

fols.276-278. Issuing new orders confirming Motumako settlement titles and creating Ngahuinga block.

17

R.8 Whirinaki 1 LINZ file 20/517 voU 19 November 1963 section 4BIB Maori Investigating Officer, Lands and

Survey Department, to Commissioner of Crown Lands. Reporting on proposed exchange of 4BIB for Crown lands.

R.9 Whirinaki 1 LINZ file 20/517 voU 11 February 1964 section 4B1B Maori Investigating Officer, Lands and

Survey Department, to Commissioner of Crown Lands. Advising that Maori owners have passed a resolution to exchange 4BIB for Crown land.

R.10 Whirinaki 1 LINZ file 20/517 voU 25 July 1956 section Extract from Rotorua MLC minute book 104, 2D2B2B fol.130. Cutting out of land to be gifted for a

church site. R.11 Whirinaki LINZ file 20/517 voU 3 November 1917 (a-b) Parakiri Rauriri to Commissioner of Crown

Lands complaining of incorrect survey of land (in Maori).

R.12 Whirinaki LINZ file 20/517 voU 3 November 1917 Parakiri Rauriri to Commissioner of Crown Lands complaining of incorrect survey of land (English translation)

S. Oversized documents, LINZ, Hamilton

Doc. Block Description Deeds/Memoranda of Transfer S.l Whirinaki 1 Deed 5556 1965

section 4B2C Memorandum of Transfer of Maori interests to Crown.

S.2 Whirinaki 1 Deed 5563 July 1966 (a-g) section 4B2E Memorandum of Transfer of Maori interests

to Crown. S.3 Whirinaki 1 Deed 5578 1966, 1967 (a-i) section Memorandum of Transfer of Maori interests

4B2A,4B2B, to Crown. 4B2D,4B2F, 4B2G

Plans S.4 Whirinaki ML 5422 1896 S.5 Whirinaki ML 5422 (2) 1896 S.6 Whirinaki ML 5422 (3) 1896